IMAGE  EVALUATION 
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1.0 


11.25 


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2.2 


U     1^"^  IIIM 


11^ 


U    IIIIII.6 


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Photographic 

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D 


D 


D 


D 


n 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommag6e 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
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10X 

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aox 

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28X 

32X 

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filmage. 

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dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustrcition,  soit  par  le  r  jcond 
plat,  salon  le  ces.  Tous  les  autrei^  exemplaires 
originaux  sent  fiimAb  en  commenpant  par  la 
premlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaftra  sur  la 
dernlAre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  -**  signifie  "A  SUIVRE".  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
filmto  A  des  taux  de  reduction  diffArents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
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de  i'angie  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


1  2  3 


32X 


1 

2 

3 

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6 

1 1 


Jesus  my  Saviour 


BEING  BROUGHT  NIGH  BY  HIS  BLOOD 


BY 


REV.  JOHN  THOMPSON,  D.  D. 

Author  of  "Lambs  in  the  Fold,"  "Christ  the  Teacher,"  "The 
Preaching  of  the  Cross,"  Etc, 


'* Mighty  to  Save*' 


FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY, 

New  York.  Chicago.  Toronto. 

Publishers  of  Evangelical  Literature. 


^.  T59 


Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1895, 
by  Fleming  H.  Revell  Company,  in  the  office  of  the  Librarian 
of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


•s, 

in 


PREFACE. 

We  have  emphasized  in  the  following  pages, 
the  objective  atonement  of  Christ  in  his  work 
of  saving  sinners,  which  He  made  for  our 
transgressions  when  He  offered  Himself  up 
once  for  all.  i  nere  has  been  of  late  years,  a 
tendency  to  minimize  this  aspect  of  our  Sav- 
iour's mission  and  to  dwell  on  the  beauty  of 
His  life;  the  perfection  of  the  example  He  set 
us;  the  reality  of  His  brotherhood;  how  He 
enters  into  sympathy  with  us  in  all  our  trials 
and  sorrows;  and  how,  by  moral  influence. 
He  in  this  way,  affects  the  minds  and  hearts 
of  men. 

Now,  all  this  is  most  precious  truth,  and 
we  fondly  cherish  the  title  which  He  gave 
Himself — The  Son  of  Man,  as  identifying  Him 
with  the  children  of  men.  If  the  Gospel  makes 
anything  plain,  it  is  the  fact  that  He  is  our 
brother,  bone  of  our  bone  and  heart  of  our 
heart,  so  that  in  all  our  afflictions  He  is  af- 
flicted, for  we  have  not  a  High  Priest  who 
cannot  be  touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  in- 
firmities.    We  glory  in  the  belief,   as  much  as 


\\\nyi 


4  PREFACE 

any  Unitarian  possibly  can,  that  in  his  human 
nature,  Christ  is  far  more  to  us  than  the  dear- 
est, tenderest  and  most  sympathizing  earthly 
friend  could  ever  be.  The  devout  soul  daily 
thinks  of  Christ  as  his  elder  brother  who  has 
far  more  interest  in  him  and  pity  for  his  fail- 
ures than  any  one  here  below  could  possibly 
have. 

But  this  is  not  the  whole  truth,  nor  yet  is  it 
the  main  truth  in  His  work  as  Saviour.  It 
would  tear  the  [  cart  out  of  the  gospel,  and 
turn  God's  revelation  of  grace  upside  down 
were  we  to  omit  in  our  teaching  the  central 
truth  of  Christ  putting  away  sin  by  the  sacri- 
fice of  Himself.  It  would  prove  an  evil  day 
for  the  church,  and  paralyze  all  her  spiritual 
forces  were  she  ever  to  cease  to  proclaim,  as 
the  very  essence  of  her  message  to  men,  thai: 
our  ransom  price  was  Himself,  that  it  is 
through  Hid  btood  we  have  redemption  and 
are  brought  near.  And  that  it  is  the  blood  of 
Jesus,  God's  Son  that  cleanseth  from  all  sin. 

We  would  not  lessen  by  one  word  all  that 
has  been  said  on  the  moral  influence  theory, 
but  we  lay  along  side  of  this,  or  rather  we  put 
within  it,    as    its  very  soul,    this  other  and 


PREFACE  ft 

greater  truth  that  He  who  knew  no  sin  was 
made  sin  for  us.  This  has  been  the  inspira- 
tion and  spiritual  strength  of  the  Church  in  the 
wilderness,  and  will  be  the  burden  of  her  song 
in  the  glory  land,  as  the  redeemed  unite  in 
endless  praise  to  Him  who  loved  us,  and 
washed  us  from  our  sins  in  His  own  blood,  and 
made  us  kings  and  priests  unto  God. 
Sarnia,  May  27,  iSg^. 


CONTENTS. 


I.  Introduction 

II.  The  Ciikist:  Thk  Saviour 

III.  Sin  Renders  Salvation  Necessary 

IV.  The  Dominion  OR  Power  OF  Sin 

V.  Sin  Is  to  in:  put  Away    .... 

VI.  Si\  Required  AN  Atonement    . 

VII.    This  Atonement  Was   long  Foreshad- 
owed         

VIII.     Sins   Are  Pardoned  through  Vicarious 
Blood         

IX.     Christ— THE  Sinner's  Substitute 

X.     SrnsTiTUTioN,  the  only  Explanation  of 
Christ's  Sufferings        .... 

XI.  Imputation,  or  Exchange  of  Grace  . 

XII.  The  (;reat  Miracle  of  Grace  . 

XIII.  Our  Trust  Is  in  Christ's  Work  alone 

XIV.  What  is  Meant  isy  Trusting  Christ     . 

XV.     Deliverance  from  the  Power  and  Pres- 
ence OF  Sin 

XVI.     The  Adaptation  of  these  Truths  to 
THE  Wants  of  the   Soul 

XVII.     Its  full  Fruition  Is  Future 
XVIII.     Christ's  Love  the  Sourcic  of  all  . 

7 


9 
15 
17 

19 
25 
32 

37 

40 
44 

51 
54 
58 
62 
67 

74 

84 
90 

97 


I02 

loy 


I  CONTENTS 

XIX.  Christ  Is  a  Present  Saviour 

XX.  God  Is  Our  Father  in  Christ 

XXI.  The     Holy  Simkit  must    Reveal    the 

Saviour  and  Assure  us  of  his  Presence  log 

XXII.  Christ  Is  OUR  King  TO  Rule  us       .        .  112 

XXIII.  Our  Consecration  TO  Him    .        .        .117 


INTRODUCTION. 

"  The  testimony  of  Christ  is  the  spirit  of 
prophecy. "  He  is  the  point  of  sight  on  which 
all  its  lines  of  light  converge  and  meet.  Moses 
and  the  prophets  all  wrote  of  Him,  and  as  we 
advance  along  their  line  of  testimony  the  more 
are  we  assured  that  he  is  about  to  come  to  his 
place.  Gradually,  as  the  morning  breaks,  so 
did  the  Lighl  of  the  I  For M  dawn,  more  and 
more  unto  the  perfect  da^ .  In  scripture  Christ 
is  held  forth  in  his  humiliation,  sufferini^s, 
death,  resurrection,  triumph,  and  rlory  at 
God's  right  hand,  and  all  has  been  i  'Ifilled. 
What  was  once  indicated  has  become  an  ir-- 
complished  fact  in  the  history  and  experience 
of  the  world.  Christ  hr  s  been  wouiided  for 
our  transgressions  and  bruised  for  our  iniquities, 
and  now  we  preach  redemption  through  his 
blood,  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  according  to  the 
riches  of  his  grace. 

Why  did  Christ  come  into  the  world  ?  Two 
apostles  answer  this  question.  One  says,  "  He 
came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,"  and  the 
other  that  "  He  was  manifested  to  take  away 

9 


10 


INTRODUCTION 


our  sins."  Probably  the  fullest  and  simplest 
expression  of  this  divine  purpose  is  found  in 
his  own  words — "  The  Son  of  Man  is  come  to 
seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost."  In  the 
early  Christian  church  the  form  of  expres- 
sion— "  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to 
save  sinners,"  was  probably  used  by  its  mem- 
bers as  a  brief  confession  of  faith,  and  this  ex- 
pressive formula  was  at  length  incorporated 
into  the  scriptures  by  Paul — "  It  is  a  faithful 
sa3'ing  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation  that 
Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save 
sinners." 

What  the  world  wants  is  to  have  the  fact  of 
sin  dealt  with,  its  bitter  roots  dug  up,  its  sad 
sources  dried  up,  and  its  power  destroyed. 
And  when  Jesus  came  to  solve  this  great  prob- 
lem of  sin,  it  was  by  fairly  meeting  it  and 
giving  his  life  as  an  offering  and  sacrifice.  And 
thus  while  justifying  the  ungodly  and  saving 
the  sinner  he  did  not  lower  the  standard  of 
holiness,  but  provided  the  means  by  which  the 
Holy  One  could  pardon  the  guilty  who  believe 
on  Jesus. 

Though  the  most  effective  of  all  reformers 
by  way  of  iniiuence,  and  sympathy,  and  work, 


INTRODUCTION 


11 


he  is  far  more  than  a  reformer.  Jesus  Christ 
is  also  something  other  than  an  example,  a  per- 
fect pattern,  a  lovely  exhibition  of  human  con- 
duct. He  is  not  merely  a  religious  genius, 
fruitful  in  moral  ideas,  and  whose  enthusiasm 
can  carry  others  along  with  him.  Nor  have 
we  exhausted  his  mission  whon  we  regard  Him 
as  a  teacher  sent  from  God,  the  wisest  and 
most  efficient  who  ever  communicated  knowl- 
edge, and  who  came  to  teach  man  of  the  resur- 
rection, a  turure  life,  and  the  Fatherhood  of 
God,  [or  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  is  not  the 
record  of  what  he  SiJd  merely,  but  also  of 
what  He  did;  not  merely  that  he  lived  among 
men  as  a  brother  among  brethren,  but  above 
all  that  He  is  man's  Saviour  who  died  to 
bring  man  near  by  his  blood. 

True  He  wps  our  Saviour  in  his  teaching, 
example,  friendship,  and  in  the  revelations  He 
gave  us  of  his  Father,  but  these  do  not  exhaust 
his  work  as  the  Saviour  of  sinners.  The  deatJi 
of  Christ — its  peculiar  nature  and  efficacy — is 
that  which  separates  Him  from  every  other 
teacher,  example,  or  friend,  and  makes  Him  a 
Saviour  through  the  atonement  he  offered, 
granting  redemption  through  his  blood  to  all 


12 


INTRODUCTION 


who  accept  Him  as  their  righteousness.  Death, 
which  ends  the  work  of  ordinary  men  was  the 
special  work  Christ  came  to  do;  He  came  to 
die;  to  give  Himself  an  offering  and  a  sacrifice 
to  God  for  a  sweet  smelling  savor,,  and  wash 
away  our  sins  in  his  own  blood.  This  was  the 
work  His  father  gave  Him  to  do,  and  which  he 
finished  when  he  poured  out  his  soul  unto 
death. 

Men  are  apt  to  forsake  the  fountain  of  living 
water  and  to  hew  out  cisterns  that  can  hold  no 
water,  but  all  the  wealth  of  Babylon  could  not 
save  her  people,  nor  could  the  wisdom  of 
Greece  redeem  her  own  philosophers,  nor  yet 
all  the  power  of  Rome  her  own  statesmen. 
Man  is  not  saved  by  wealth,  by  wisdom  or  by 
power;  nor  is  he  saved  by  his  religion;  if  he  is 
saved  at  all  it  must  be  by  One  who  is  able,  and 
who  came  on  express  purpose.  But  is  there 
such  a  Deliverer  for  man }  Is  there  any  one 
who  can  remove  the  evil  in  us  that  is  so  real, 
and  make  those  hearts  pure  that  are  now  so 
full  of  sin  .-*  Salvation  from  sin  is  man's  great 
need;  has  such  a  need  been  provided  for  by 
God }  The  very  name  the  Angel  gave  the 
child  before  he  was  born  is  an  answer  to  this 


INTRODUCTION 


18 


question — "Thou  shalt  call  his  name  Jesus," 
said  the  heavenly  messenger,  "  for  he  shall 
save  his  people  from  their  sins."  The  name 
he  was  to  bear  among  men  was  one  selected 
by  God  Himself  and  designed  to  mark  his 
peculiar  and  distinctive  work  as  the  Mediator 
and  Saviour  of  his  people.  All  the  lines  of 
light  blend  into  one  focus — the  taking  away  of 
sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  Himself.  This  was 
Christ's  purpose  held  in  view  from  the  first. 

Jesus,  in  his  brief  life  on  earth  accomplished 
what  Greece  with  all  her  wisdom,  Rome  with 
all  her  imperial  sway,  or  Babylon  with  all  her 
wealth  never  could  accomplish.  He  regener- 
ated and  saved  mankind.  It  is  his  work  as  our 
substitute  that  saves  the  sinner  and  is  the 
ground  of  our  trust.  Redemption  by  blood,  is 
tiie  good  news,  "  The  old,  old  stoiy,"  that  we 
must  tell.  The  just  dying  for  the  unjust,  is 
the  center  jewel  of  his  work  of  which  all  else 
is  the  setting. 


THE  CHRIST:   THE  SAVIOUR. 


He  Came  into  the  World  to  Save  Sinners. 

The  chief  end  of  revelation  was  not  to  un- 
ravel abstruse  problems  in  philosophy,  or  to 
furnish  us  with  wonderful  specimens  of  litera- 
ture, or  give  us  lessons  on  political  science  and 
economics.  The  Bible  relates  chiefly  to  a  pur- 
pose of  grace  that  comes  out  more  clearly  in 
each  succeeding  generation  till  at  last  it  tells 
men  plainly  that  God  is  in  Christ  reconciling 
the  world  to  Himself.  Hence  its  great  watch- 
word is  "  Salvation  from  our  God,''  which  is 
announced  in  its  final  and  full  utterance  as 
"  being  brought  nigh  by  the  blood  of  Christ.'* 

Jesus  is  the  teacher  sent  from  God  who 
came  to  communicate  to  us  great  and  import- 
ant lessons  of  grace.  He  is  our  example  in 
whose  steps  we  must  follow;  He  is  our  friend 
who  shows  his  affection,  and  sympathy,  and 
tenderness  more  than  any  brother;  and  He  is 
the  Revealer  of  the  Father  in  all  he  says  and 
does,  even  when  fondling  the  little  ch'ldren  on 
his  bosom.     But  it  is  as  our  Saviour  that  He 

»5 


16 


CHRIST  THE  SA  VI OUR 


\  I 

It 


performs  even  these  offices,  and  the  great  cen- 
tral truth  of  revelation  is,  Christ  Jesus  saving 
sinners  by  bearing  their  sins  in  his  own  body 
on  the  tree.  The  religion  of  the  Bible  is  the 
religion  that  has  its  root  in  the  cross,  and  its 
assuring  testimony  is  "  The  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ,  God's  Son,  cleanseth  from  all  sin." 
Its  great  aim  is  to  tell  the  world  of  God  and 
his  salvation — "  How  God  so  loved  the  world 
that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son  that  who- 
soever believeth  in  Him  might  not  perish,  but 
have  everlasting  life." 


11 


ill 


S/N  RENDERS    SALVATION   NECES- 
SARY. 


Sin  is  the  Transgression  of  the  Law. 

Our  Saviour  said  in  justification  of  His  own 
conduct:     "  The  whole  need  not  a  physician, 
but  they  who  are  sick."     Sin  is  the  fact  that 
renders  Salvation  necessary,  and  Christ  carne, 
not  to  call  the  righteous  but  sinners  to  repent- 
ance.    As   the   hungry   need   to  be   fed,  the 
blind  to  have  their  eyes  opened,  so  the  guilty 
alone  need  to  be  pardoned,  and,  therefore,  the 
Good  Shepherd  seeks  his  lost  sheep  in  this 
great  wilderness  of  sin.     A  state  of  grace  is 
expressed  by  our  "  Walking  with  God,"  as  in 
the  case  of  Enoch  of  whom  it  is  said  that  he 
walked  with  God.     And  as  Abimelech  said  to 
Abraham  "  God  is  with  thee  in  all  that  thou 
doest."     The  very  assurance  that  God  Him- 
self gave  to  Jacob:  "  Behold  I  am  with  thee, 
and  will  keep  thee  in  all  places  whither  thou 
goest,  and  will  bring  thee  again  into  this  land; 
for  I  will  not  leave  thee  until  I  have  done  that 
which  I  have  spoken  to  thee  of."  Gen.  xlviii:  15. 

»7 


I:; 
'i 
I 


1 8    S/N  RENDERS  SAL  VA  TION  AECESSAR  Y 

Now,  sin  tends  to  break  this  connection  of 
the  soul  with  God;  sin  is  estrangement  from 
God,  perpetual  inward  disorder,  and  when  it  is 
finished  it  bringeth  forth  death,  which  is  the  loss 
of  all  that  man  was  created  for,  the  quenching 
of  all  hope  and  joy,  the  loss  of  God  and 
Heaven  and  endless  blessedness. 

We  must  have  a  true  sense  of  the  nature  of 
sin,  its  awful  mastery  over  the  heart,  how  deep 
its  roots  strike  and  how  firmly  they  hold;  the 
power  of  darkness  raging  within  us;  the 
deadening  influence  of  evil  upon  the  heart 
cutting  at  the  root  of  every  noble  purpose; 
and  taking  the  life  out  of  the  soul  and  the 
manhood  out  of  our  character;  searing  the 
conscience  and  paralyzing  all  the  moral  move- 
ments of  the  man;  and  deadening  his  very 
sense  of  right  and  wrong.  And  further,  when 
we  think  of  the  craving  of  depraved  appetites, 
and  the  eternity  of  despair  that  closes  all,  how 
precious  is  the  assurance  that  there  is  One  who 
will  put  away  transgression  and  make  an  end 
of  sin. 


.M 


THE  DOMINION  OR   POWER  OF   SIN. 


Sin  Hath  Reigned  Unto  Death. 

Our  familiarity  with  sin  has  deadened  our 
sense  of  its  greatness,    for  it   has   been   our 
environment   all  our  life,  and   we   have   had 
experience  of  no  other  condition;  but  the  fact 
that  we  have  been   made   callous,   and  that 
some     may   be    buried   under    mountains   of 
indifference  and  neglect,   does   not   do   away 
with  the  fact  that  "  God  has  shut  all  up  under 
sin."     The  dominion  of  sin  is  as  wide  as  the 
race  of  man,  for  the  whole  world  is  guilty,  and 
every  man  is  conscious  of  this  bondage.     All 
men  in   every   age   have   yielded   themselves 
servants  of  unrighteousness,  as  the  servants  of 
the  devil  they    are   sold   under  sin,  and   led 
captive  by  him.     These  are  truths,  not  merely 
declared  in  Scripture  and  believed  on  its  tes- 
timony,  but  confirmed   by  the  experience  of 
man  in  every  age. 

The  poivcr  of  sin  is  the  hold  which  it  has 
over  the  heart  and  life.  Under  its  fatal  sway 
a  man  is  as  a  child  in  the  grasp  of  a  giant, 

19 


!! 
'I 


20  POWER  OF  SIN 

bound  with  cords  which  he  has  neither  the  in- 
chnation  nor  the  power  to  break.  There  are 
more  than  the  stains  of  sin  or  even  its  gniit. 
True,  sin  holds  us  to  punishment  as  trans- 
gressors, and  leaves  its  stain  deep  and  dark 
upon  the  soul,  but  in  addition  to  this  there  is 
the  (ioniinion  of  sin  and  its  terrible  mastery 
over  the  man  himself.  Sin  tends  to  spread 
and  grow,  to  strengthen  and  intrench  itself. 
What  was  once  a  little  thread  becomes  a  cable 
which  nothing  can  break,  and  this  moral  help- 
lessness is  the  saddest  of  all  experiences. 

We  are  not  now  speaking  of  the  power  of 
Juxbit,  such  as  holds  the  drunkard,  the  miser,  the 
profligate  or  the  lovers  of  pleasure.  There  is 
no  difference  of  opinion  in  regard  to  the  fact 
that  they  are  all  under  the  power  of  sin.  We 
distinguish  between  vices  and  sin  itself,  for 
while  every  vice  is  a  sin,  yet  a  man  may  be 
free  from  all  open  vice,  outwardly  decent  and 
respectable,  the  most  scrupulous  may  not  be 
able  to  bring  the  least  reproach  against  him, 
and  yet  he  may  be  in  open  rebellion  against 
God  and  his  heart  still  dead  in  trespasses  and 
sins.  A  man  may  be  very  respectable  out- 
wardly, and  still  have  no  love  to  Christ,  and 


POWER  OPSIN 


SA 


no  sympathy  with  the  Gospel  of  his  grace.  He 
Is  still  carnal,  and  that  is  death,  for  the  carnal 
mind  is  enmity  against  God.  He  minds  only 
the  things  of  the  flesh,  and  the  flesh  lusteth 
against  the  Spirit.  Let  such  a  man,  under  any 
impulse  that  may  occur  to  move  him,  try  to 
change  the  currents  of  his  thoughts,  and  direct 
them  to  the  worship  of  God,  let  him  attempt 
to  throw  of¥  his  carnality  and  leave  his  baser 
self  behind  him  and  become  spiritually  minded, 
and  he  will  feel  his  strongest  resolutions 
crumble  away  and  leave  him  a  helpless  slave 
under  the  bondage  of  sin. 

The  prince  of  this  world  worketh  in  the 
children  of  disobedience,  and  how  his  reign 
strengthens  and  perpetuates  itself  and  pours  its 
sad  results  over  into  the  next  world.  When 
the  devil  sows  his  seeds  in  the  heart  they  find 
a  ready  and  receptive  soil,  and  as  being  native 
to  the  heart  they  grow  into  the  harvest  of  all 
ungodliness  and  unrighteousness  of  men.  What 
a  terrible  reign  of  evil  in  the  heart,  and  the 
longer  that  sin  has  sway  the  more  difficult  it  is 
to  eject  it,  and  the  less  likely  that  it  will  ever 
be  overcome,  for  sin  in  the  heart,  like  nothing 
else,  cuts  at  the  root  of  our  wills,  it  eats  away 


22 


POWER  OF  SIN 


all  our  resolutions  of  aincndinent,  it  tears 
asunder  the  very  nerves  of  moral  action,  and 
causes  a  stupor  to  pass  over  the  soul.  Who 
knows  to  what  sad  results  an  evil  habit  may 
lead  to.  Behold  what  a  f,Teat  matter  a  little 
fire  kindleth.  The  first  open  act  of  sin  against 
the  conscience  may  be  as  the  applying  of  a 
spark  to  combustibles,  it  may  kindle  a  fire 
which  no  hand  can  quench  until  the  whole 
moral  life  is  consumed.  How  helpless  a  man 
is  under  his  master  passion,  cursing  his  chains 
while  hugging  them  closer  around  him.  And  if 
under  the  arrow  of  conviction  he  attempts  to 
break  through,  he  feels  as  powerless  as  a 
crushed  reptile.  "  Can  the  Ethiopian  change 
his  skin  or  the  leopard  his  spots  ,'* "  "Oh, 
wretched  man  that  I  am  who  shall  deliver  me 
from  the  body  of  this  death  .'' " 

But  sin  takes  hold  of  the  future  as  well  as 
blights  the  present.  Its  curse  lies  heaviest 
there.  "The  soul  that  sinneth  shall  die." 
This  does  not  mean  the  quenching  of  the  ani- 
mal life  and  the  dissolution  of  the  body.  This 
death  of  the  body  is  not  all  that  the  Bible 
means;  it  is  not  all  that  God  meant  when  he 
said  to  Adam;     "  In  the  day  that  thou  eatest 


POU'En  OF  Sm  23 

tlicrcof  thou  shalt  surely  die."  Our  Lord  has 
said  "  Fear  not  them  that  kill  the  body,  but 
are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul;  but  rather  fear 
him  who  is  able  to  destroy  both  soul  and  body 
in  hell."  He  meant  that  beyond  the  death  of 
the  body  there  is  the  death  of  the  soul,  and  to 
lose  the  soul  is  to  lose  oursclf,  it  is  for  the 
man  to  be  lest  in  eternity,  it  is  to  die  in  our 
sins.  Antl  therr  are  no  words  of  Christ's  more 
terrible  than  His  warnin^^  "  Ye  shall  die  in 
your  sins."  The  meaninj^  of  this  who  can 
grasp  .'*  It  conveys  the  impression  of  some- 
thing which  not  even  He  undertakes  to  de- 
scribe. There  comes  to  us  as  we  are  borne 
across  the  scene  of  probation  an  intimation  of 
another  scene  when  the  fashion  of  this  world 
has  passed  away.  "  It  is  appointed  unto  men 
once  to  die,  but  after  death  the  judgment." 
Heb.  i.\:  27.  "  He  that  is  unjust;  let  him  be 
unjust  still;  and  he  which  is  filthy  let  him  be 
filthy  still:  and  he  that  is  righteous  let  him  be 
righteous  still;  and  he  that  is  holy  let  him  be 
holy  still."     Rev.  xxii:  1 1. 

It  is  this  "  fearful  looking  for  of  judgment 
and  fiery  indignation"  as  well  as  the  paralysis 
of  our  moral  nature,  the  sleep  and  stupor  of 


1  ■ 


"A 


POWER  OF  SIN 


the  soul's  spiritual  functions  that  is  most  to  be 
feared.  It  is  this  sealing  over  of  the  fountain 
of  life  and  utter  prostration  of  the  soul  that 
makes  the  power  of  sin  so  alarming,  and  its 
blight  so  dangerous  and  deadly.  And  most  of 
all  it  produces  that  enmity  in  our  hearts 
against  Him  who  is  the  source  of  all  blessed- 
ness and  love. 


I 


SIN  IS  TO  BE  PUT  AWAY. 


Sin  Shall  Not  Have  Dominion  Over  You. 

Such  being  the  nature  of  the  disease  and 
doom  of  sin,  what  a  Gospel  it  is,  that  assures 
us  that  "  sin  shall  not  have  dominion  over  us," 
that  its  power  is  to  be  broken  and  its  reign  to 
end.  O  think  of  God's  wonderful  provision  in 
grace,  the  provision  his  love  secured  for  our 
deliverance.  Let  your  mind  and  heart  rest 
upon  his  unsearchable  riches  and  Divine  help, 
"  O  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom 
and  knowledge  of  God.  How  shall  we  escape 
if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation."  The  deep- 
est condemnation  must  be  to  turn  our  back  on 
this  open  door  of  grace  and  die  in  our  sins. 

A  soul  struggling  for  spiritual  liberty  is  a 
grand  spectacle,  and  many  a  one  has  had  a 
hard  fight  for  it.  Many,  like  the  woman  who 
had  been  afflicted  so  long,  have  spent  all  they 
had,  and  were  nothing  bettered  but  rather  grew 
worse,  till  they  learned  to  come  and  tell  Jesus ; 
they  found  how  easy  it  was  to  speak  to  Him, 
and  how  near  Divine  help  had  been  to  them 

25 


26 


S/N  IS  TO  BE  PUT  A  WA  Y 


111 


all  the  time,  and  when  at  last  they  sought  his 
aid  how  quickly  he  made  them  whole,  and 
gave  them  the  victory.  It  is  when  the  burden 
and  power  of  sin  are  felt,  that  the  presence  of 
the  Saviour  is  so  precious,  and  his  promises  of 
rest  and  peace  are  so  encouraging.  He  who 
came  for  the  express  purpose,  will  vanquish 
the  power  of  sin  in  the  soul  as  surely  as  he 
takes  away  its  guilt  and  removes  its  defilement. 
He  will  bruise  Satan  and  destroy  his  reign  in 
the  heart.  How  easily  a  cold  heart  is  warmed 
when  he  touches  it  with  his  holy  fire — the  live 
coal  from  off  the  altar.  How  easily  its  rebel- 
lion is  subdued  when  he  lays  his  strong  hand 
upon  it !  How  quickly  a  shut  heart  is  opened 
and  made  the  home  of  the  Saviour's  presence 
when  the  Holy  Spirit  breathes  upon  it.  And 
what  an  abundant  harvest  grows  when  he  sows 
the  seeds  of  everlasting  life  in  souls  made  glad 
through  his  grace  !  O  how  easily  the  winter 
of  our  icy  indifference  is  turned  into  living  fresh- 
ness and  all  the  growth  and  blooming  beauty 
of  summer,  when  he  pours  out  the  showeis  of 
his  blessing  and  breathes  the  fragrance  of  his 
love  around  us. 

When  a  soul  is  engaged  in  the  good  fight  of 


^p 


SIN  IS  TO  BE  PUT  A IVA  Y  27 

faith  how  sweet  and  assuring  are  his  words  "  I 
will  take  away  the  hard  and  stony  heart  out 
of  your  flesh,  and  I  will  give  you  an  heart  of 
flesh.      I  will  open  the  prison  door;  I  will  break 
the  chains;  I  will  give  deliverance  to  the  cap- 
tive."    And  what  is  a  hard  heart  when  the 
power  of  the  Spirit  is  given  to  melt  and  mould 
it?      What  are  all  our  spiritual  foes  in  the 
hands  of  Him  who  came  to  destroy  the  works 
of  the  devil  ^    And  what  are  all  a  sinner's  wants 
when  brought  into  relation  to  the  unsearchable 
riches  of  Christ } 

When  the  Saviour  comes  to  bind  Satan  and 
cast  him  out  it  is  no  new,  strange  work  to  Him, 
and  He  has  nothing  to  do  in  your  case  that  He 
has  not  often  done  before,  and  is  doing  all  the 
time  for  those  in  whose  hearts  Christ  is  formed 
the  hope  of  glory. 

What  God's  grace  did  for  Paul  it  can  do  for 
you;  what  it  accomplished  on  the  day  of  Pen- 
tecost for  the  thousands  that  were  added  to  the 
Church,  it  can  do  still.  The  great  work  which 
the  Spirit  wrought  in  the  hearts  of  a  Lydia, 
a  Zaccheus,  the  thief  on  the  cross.  He  can 
work  with  equal  efficiency  in  your  heart  and 
mine.     He  who  destroyed  the  power  of  sin  in 


;U^  i 


S/N  /S  TO  BE  PUT  AWAY 


I ; 


|l  \ 


»> 


the  heart  of  a  John  Bunyon,  a  Colonel  Gard- 
ner, a  John  Newton,  a  Wilberforce,  will  also 
destroy  the  power  of  sin  in  your  heart  and 
teach  you  to  sing  the  nczv  song.  He  who 
washed  that  great  multitude  who  have  already 
passed  into  life  eternal,  can  also  wash  you  and 
make  you  whiter  than  snow;  for  that  blood  has 
lost  none  of  its  efficacy.  Christ  was  mani- 
fested to  take  away  our  sins,  and  his  atone- 
ment and  intercessions  have  all  the  solemn 
significancy  and  preciousness  to  a  sinner's  faith 
that  they  ever  had  and  he  comes  to  reason 
with  us  about  the  matter — "  Lo,  I  am  with  you 
always  ;  I  am  on  thy  side  ;  come  to  me  ;  I  am 
greater  than  all  that  can  come  against  thee  ; 
lean  your  weakness  on  my  everlasting  strength  ; 
be  not  dismayed  at  past  defeats  for  you  shall 
conquer  still  ;  though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet 
they  shall  be  as  snow,  though  they  be  red  like 
crimson  they  shall  be  as  wool."  As  a  mother 
stoops  to  her  child  so  does  Jesus  condescend 
.•^o  our  weakncb^  and  asks  us  to  bring  our  weak, 
faltering,  unstable  resolutions  which  we  have 
scarcely  courage  any  more  to  make — feeling 
sure  we  will  break  them  again — to  him,  form 
these  resolutions  in  dependence  on  his  grace  and 


S/N  IS  TO  BE  PUT  AWAY 


29 


they  shall  be  weak  and  faltering  no  more. 
Commit  your  ways  unto  the  Lord  and  He  will 
make  his  strength  perfect  in  your  weakness,  for 
He  came  to  save  His  people  from  the  dominion 
and  power  of  sin,  no  less  than  from  its  guilt 
and  stains.  And  there  is  a  dominion  of  sin 
from  which  nothing  can  save  us  but  the  grace 
of  God;  there  are  sins  whose  stains  nothing  can 
wash  out  but  the  blood  of  Jesus  ;  there  are 
evils  rooted  in  the  heart  which  can  be  removed 
only  by  the  Spirit's  gracious  power.  The  fear 
of  detection,  a  sense  of  honor,  some  selfish  or 
worldly  motive  may  keep  a  man  from  trans- 
gressing any  of  the  well  ordered  rules  of 
social  life,  but  neither  refinement,  education, 
social  arrangements,  political  or  economic  in- 
stitutions will  avail  to  root  out  sin  from  the 
heart  any  more  than  pouring  a  little  water  on 
Vesuvius  to  put  out  its  fire. 

The  blood  of  Jesus   Christ  alone  cleanseth. 
The  great  Physieian  alone  ean  heal  all  manner 
of  siekness  and  all  manner  of  disease  among 
the  people. 

We  need  not  trouble  ourselves  as  to  how  the 
power  of  sin  is  to  be  destroyed,  what  special 
Providences  he  will  send  to  cause  us  to  turn 


:|...| 


^ 


80 


S/N  IS  TO  BE  PUT  AWAY 


i> 


away  from  self  and  teach  us  to  trust  the 
Saviour  whom  we  once  despised.  We  simply 
rest  on  the  promise  that  his  spirit  will  enable 
us  to  die  unto  sin  and  live  unto  righteousness. 
When  the  warm  winds  of  spring  come,  the 
fields  and  forests  cannot  help  blooming.  When 
the  sun  pours  his  balmy  light  and  heat  upon 
the  flowers,  they  must  open  to  be  painted  and 
filled  with  his  glory.  We  don't  expect  these 
to  bloom  in  the  winter,  but  in  early  summer 
as  little  do  we  expect  the  deadness  of  January. 
So  is  it  with  our  souls  when  times  of  refreshing 
coiiie  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  his 
warm,  loving  presence  melts  away  the  winter 
of  sin  from  the  heart.  When  God's  spirit  is 
working  within  us  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  His 
good  pleasure,  it  is  then  easy  for  us  both  to 
will  and  to  do  and  to  decide  for  truth  and 
righteousness.  When  the  Holy  Spirit  is  wash- 
ing our  souls  from  sin  it  is  both  natural  and 
easy  to  die  unto  sin  and  live  unto  righteous- 
ness. When  under  grace,  it  is  the  daily  and 
ordinary  tendency  of  our  life  to  grow  in  grace 
and  in  the  knowledge  of  God.  When  the  love 
of  sin  is  taken  away,  the  heart  finds  it  easy  to 
turn  from  sin  unto  God.     Thus  Jesus  breaks 


^ 


SIN  IS  TO  BE  PUT  AWAY 


81 


the  cord  that  binds  the  sinner  to  the  kingdom 
of  darkness,  and  unites  him  to  His  own  home 
in  glory  by  bonds  which  can  not  be  broken. 

But  at  a  great  jltice  obtained  we  this  free- 
dom !  We  have  been  redeemed  not  with 
such  corruptible  things  as  silver  and  gold,  but 
with  the  precious  blood  of  Christ  as  of  a  Lamb 
without  a  blemish  and  without  spot.  We  have 
redemption  through  His  blood. 


S/N  REQUIRED  AN  ATONEMENT, 


Without  the  Shedding  of  Blood  there  is  No 

Remission. 

God  in  his  word  tells  us  that  sin  is  to  be  put 
away,  and  He  tells  us  also  that  Christ  came  to 
put  it  away  by  the  Sacrifice  of  Himself ,  and  that 
those  who  are  afar  off  are  to  be  brought  nigh 
by  the  blood  of  Christ.  The  nature  of  the  dis- 
ease must  determine  the  nature  of  the  remedy 
fitted  to  cure  or  remove  it;  and  men's  views 
of  sin — its  guilt,  pollution,  power  and  doom — 
have  always  determined  their  views  of  salva- 
tion and  of  the  Saviour.  The  salvation  which 
is  offered  to  us  by  Jesus  Christ  has  its  signifi- 
cance from  a  true  understanding  of  that  from 
which  we  are  to  be  saved.  The  black  back- 
ground of  eternal  condemnation  intensifies  the 
light  of  the  Gospel  promises  that  shine  so 
brightly  before  it;  and  how  it  thrills  the  soul 
to  know  that  it  must  be  the  tender,  loving 
hand  of  the  Saviour  that  is  laid  upon  us  to  lift 
us  out  of  the  fearful  pit.  It  is  a  foretaste  of 
heaven  to  have  imparted  to  us  through  the 

sa 


.SVA^  REilUIRED  AN  A  TONEMENT        33 

Spirit  that  new  heart  with  all  the  elements  of 
heavenly  blessedness  as  a  fountain  of  purity 
and  strcngtn  springing  up  in  the  soul,  but  in 
order  to  secure  this  our  sins  are  required  to  be 
atoned  for  by  one  who  could  bear  them  away. 

Sin  renders  an  atonement  necessary,  guilt 
can  be  removed  only  by  the  shedding  of  blood, 
and  without  this  there  can  be  no  remission. 
Had  sin  been  only  an  insult  to  the  Divine  Maj- 
esty of  God,  or  a  debt  contracted  on  the  part 
of  the  sinner,  God  could  have  ppssed  it  by 
through  an  act  of  royal  clemency.  But  in  ad- 
dition to  these  aspects  of  it  sin  is  essentially  a 
violation  of  God's  eternal  law  of  righteousness, 
and  God  as  the  law-giver  must  see  his  law 
vindicated  and  its  holy  sanctions  enforced. 
"  Whosoever  committeth  sin  transgresseth  also 
the  law,  for  sin  is  the  transgression  of  the 
law." 

God  could  not  tarnish  his  own  glory  by 
trampling  on  eternal  justice,  or  enter  into  any 
combination  to  protect  sin  from  merited  pun- 
ishment and  therefore  an  atonement  for  sin 
must  be  made.  God  could  not  consent  to  the 
sacrifice  of  his  own  character,  for  if  he  ceased 
to  be  anything  less  than  holy  he  would  become 


if  i 


84       s/\  A' hoc//:/:/)  AX  a  toa' /•:.)/ /cnt 

as  that  from  wliich  man  needed  deliverance. 
Nor  would  it  be  salvation  to  be  received  into 
the  favor  of  a  Ciod,  who,  in  the  very  act  of  re- 
ceiving' iis,  would  cease  to  be  worthy  of  our 
reverence  or  our  trust.  The  returning  prod- 
igal would  not  desire  to  change  his  father  to 
his  own  baseness.  And  therefore  Christ  must 
suffer  in  order  that  transgressors  be  pardoned, 
lie  is  the  land)  slain  in  sacrifice  on  God's  al- 
tar, a  holy  oblation,  well  pleasing  to  God,  for 
it  was  a  lamb  of  his  own  providing,  and  this 
blood  of  the  everlasting  covenant  was  to  Him 
a  sweet  smelling  savor.  Sin  is  a  rebellious 
act,  it  is  a  condition  of  guilt,  it  is  a  disease  of 
man's  spiritual  nature,  it  is  a  sad  inheritance, 
and  a  fearful  doom.  But  Christ  came  to  make 
peace  through  the  blood  of  his  cross,  and.  he 
has  laid  the  ground  for  our  pardon,  healing, 
and  safety  by  the  giving  of  himself  as  the  Sac- 
rifice. We  are  reconciled  to  God  by  the  death 
of  His  Son.  He  reconciles  us  to  Himself  by 
Jesus  Christ,  whom  God  has  set  forth  to  be  a 
propitiation  through  faith  in  his  blood,  to  de- 
clare his  righteousness  for  the  remission  of  sins 
that  are  past  through  the  forbearance  of  God. 
The  atoning  work  of  Christ — his  sufferings 


i     I 


I 


S/N  RE(2  UIRED  AN  A  TONEMENT        U5 

and  death  on  the  cross — was  necessary  to 
l)rin^^  us  back  to  God.  Christ  is  the  way,  the 
one  Mediator  between  God  and  man  is  the 
Mian  Christ  Jesus,  and  no  man  cometh  to  the 
I'ather  but  by  Him.  "  God  could  not  take  us 
back,  could  not  let  us  come  home,  could  not 
restore  us  to  the  position  and  condition  of  chil- 
dren, happy  in  his  favor,  without  that  atone- 
ment." 

Hence  the  two  great  themes  of  the  Bible  are 
sin  and  grace — ruin  and  redemption.  Sin  reign- 
ing unto  death,  and  grace  reigning  through 
righteousness  unto  eternal  life.  It  discloses 
the  wound  and  the  balni\  the  sinner  and  the 
Saviour.  Its  grand  announcement — the  old, 
old  story — to  which  everything  else  is  made 
subordinate  and  subservient  is,  Christ  gather- 
ing his  elect  people  out  of  all  nations  and  ages; 
the  seed  of  the  ivonian  in  conflict  with  the  ser- 
pent's seed. 

In  one  view  we  behold  the  world  lost  and 
ruined,  and  lying  in  the  arms  of  the  wicked 
one,  and  in  another  view,  as  standing  over 
against  this,  we  have  Christ  loving  the  church 
and  giving  Himself  for  it  that  he  might  present 
it   to  Himself  a  glorious  church.     The  chief 


.  t 


88         .S7A'  A"  F.i}  (  7A'  /:/)  A  N  A  TONEMENT 

aim  of  revelation  is  to  exalt  Christ  as  a  Prince 
and  a  Saviour.  The  Bible  explained  in  the 
ii{;ht  of  Calvary,  and  the  one  offering  of  Him- 
self unto  God;  is  the  j^lorious  unfolding  of  a 
single  plan  that  runs  throughout,  viz:  that  God 
was  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  Him- 
self. When,  with  a  fond  heart,  we  ponder 
these  inspired  pages  we  are  at  once  made 
aware  of  an  increasing  purpose,  a  progressive 
development  of  a  scheme  of  grace  that  cul- 
minated in  the  coming  of  the  Saviour  to  take 
away  our  sins,  and  make  an  end  of  transgres- 
sion. 


THIS  ATONEMENT  WAS  LONG  FORE- 
SHADOWED. 


A    Lamb  for  a   House — A  Shadoiv  of  Good 
Things  to  Come. 
The  lamb  was  slain  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world.     As  shadows  lying  along  the  green 
sward  indicates  a  substance  that  throws  them, 
so  all  the  shadows,  types  and  sacrifices  of  the 
olden  time,  had  their  meeting  place  and  fulfill- 
ment in  the  sacrifice  of  the  Son  of  God,  who 
appeared  in  the  end  of  the  world  to  put  away 
sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  Himself.     The  former 
dispensation    was  characterized   by   shadows, 
but  they  were  all  shadows  of  good  things  to 
come,    and   intended  to    carry    the   mind  and 
heart  forward  to  God's  slain  lamb.      There  is 
no  people  without  some  form  of  religion;  and 
sacrifices   have  been  offered  up  in  every  age, 
but  these  offerings  and  victims  laid  on  pagan 
altars  are  a  confession  of  sin,  and  a  solemn 
appeal  for  some  atonement.      Differ  as  these 
religious  offerings  may  it  is  the  same  cry  of 
burdened  humanity;  the  voice  of  a  guilty  con- 

37 


38 


yi  TONE  ME  NT  FORES  HA  DO  11  ED 


I 


w  I 


science,  the  ceaseless  prayer  of  a  weary  world 
seeking  deliverance;  but  what  others  blindly 
groped  after  was  the  distinctive  feature  of  the 
Jevv'ish  faith,  whose  ritual  was  a  great  object 
lesson,  and  whose  sacrifices  were  types  fore- 
shadowing the  slaying  of  God's  own  lamb. 

Been  in  the  very  nature  of  Jewish  worship, 
which  some  might  think  cumbersome  and  mean- 
ingless, there  were  to  be  seen  the  prophetic  fin- 
gers constantly  pointing  the  people  forward  to 
the  real  atonement  yet  to  be  made.  Ev3ry 
time  the  people  saw  the  lamb  taken  and  its 
blood  poured  out  upon  the  altar,  they  were  led 
to  think  of  that  other  lamb  led  to  the  slaughter, 
and  whose  blood  also  was  to  be  poured  out 
that  he  might  obtain  eternal  redemption  for 
us.  And  in  those  twilight  days  it  was  a  mes- 
sage suited  to  the  spiritual  insight  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  brought  a  kind  of  assurance  to  every 
true  worshipper,  and  they  said  to  themselves, 
"  If  these  sanctify  to  the  purifying  of  the  flesh, 
how  much  more  shall  the  blood  of  Christ,  who, 
through  the  Eternal  Spirit,  offered  Himself 
without  spot  to  God,  purge  your  conscience 
from  dead  works  to  save  the  Living  God. 
Heb.  ix:  14. 


;♦ 


A  TONEMENT  FORESHADO  WED  39 

And  as  a  consequence  of  this  symbolic  teach- 
ing the  people  expected  One  to  come  and  die 
for  their  nation,   and   though    their  ideas   of 
this    atoning    lamb   and   his  work  were  very 
crude,  they  held  their  place  and  served  their 
purpose  in  the  hearts  of  the  people,  and  bye 
and  bye,  when  they  are  able  to  bear  it,  a  fuller 
exposition  will  be  given  them.     So  when  the 
fullness  of  the  time  had  come,  and  Jesus  made 
his    public    appearance,     John    the     Baptist 
pointed  Him  out  in  language  which  purposely 
connected  Him  with  that  long  line  of  sacrifice 
which   r^n    through   the  very   center   of    the 
spiritual  life  of  Israel — "  Behold  the  Lamb  of 
God  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world." 
Not  the  sins  as  it  is  commonly  quoted,  but  the 
sin,  as  if  the  whole  mass  of  human  transgres- 
sion was  bound  together  in  one  black  load  and 
laid  upon   Him  who  bore   it   away.      He  was 
GoiVs  Lamb  of  which  the  other  lambs  were  the 
tvpes  and  shadows.      He  was  to  enter  into  the 
true  holy  place  with  His  own  blood  and  pour 
it  out  on  the  altar  a  ransom   for  his  people. 
His  grace  is  to  be  applied  by  way  of  atonement 
and  not  as  mere  social  reform  by  personal  in- 
fluence,    "  The  life  is  in  the  blood." 


\i 


1'^ 


ll'i 


I' 


hi 


SINS  ARE  PARDONED    THROUGH  VI- 
CARIOUS BLOOD. 


When  I  Sec  the  Blood  I   Will  Pass  By. 

In  the  beginnin<:,'  of  Revelation  we  have  an 
account  given  of  the  sacrificial  lamb  which  had 
been  ordained.  Gen.  iv:  4.  And  from  that 
time  sacrifices  continued  to  be  offered  aij  a  part 
of  religious  worship.  Two  thousand  years 
later,  Abraham  said  to  his  son  Isaac,  as  they 
journeyed  together  to  the  place  of  sacrifice— 
"  My  Son,  God  will  provide  Himself  a  A?w/;." 
Gen.  xxii:  28.  And  at  the  critical  moment  the 
lamb  was  provided  by  God  and  Abraham  substi- 
tuted a  lamb  for  the  lamb  of  his  own  bosom. 
Four  hundred  years  later,  God  said  to  the  peo- 
ple through  Moses—"  Speak  ye  unto  all  the 
congregation  of  Israel  saying,  in  the  tenth 
inonth  they  shall  take  to  them  every  man  a  lamb 
according  to  the  house  of  their  fathers,  every 
man  a  lamb  for  a  house.  Ex.  xii:  3.  The 
people  also  were  taught  to  confess  their  sins 
with  the  hands  of  the  priest  lying  on  the  head  of 
the  lamb.     Lev.  xvi:  7,  to,  2 1.     Seven  hundred 

40 


I 


PARDON  THROUGH  VICARIOUS  BLOOD  41 

years  still  later  in  the  Church's  history,  Isaiah, 
from  the  sublime  heights  of  prophecy,  saw  the 
lamb  led  to  the  slaughter,  and  slain  for  us. 
Seven  hundred  years  yet  later  Jesus  is  seen 
approaching  John  the  Baptist,  who  points 
Him  out  to  two  of  his  disciples  in  terms  that 
purposely  connected  him  with  the  whole  line 
of  sacrifice.  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God." 
The  Lamb  slain  is  the  only  ground  of  a  sin- 
ner's trust.  This  is  the  central  truth  of  reve- 
lation from  Adam  to  John.  The  center 
thought  in  God's  scheme  of  grace  is  sin  being 
pardoned  through  vicarious  blood,  i.  c,  blood 
shed  in  the  room  of  the  sinner,  the  life  of  the 
sacrifice  substituted  in  the  place  of  the  offerer's 
own.  This  was  the  theology  of  Abel  who 
offered  a  lamb  as  an  expression  of  personal 
guilt  and  as  an  atonement  for  his  sins.  It 
was  also  the  theology  of  Abraham  who  offered 
a  lamb  instead  of  his  own  son.  And  sin  par- 
doned through  vicarious  blood  was  the  theol- 
ogy of  Moses  who  commanded  the  Israelites 
to  kill  a  lamb  and  sprinkle  its  blood  upon  the 
doorposts  and  the  Angel  of  death  would  spare 
that  home.  God  said  to  Israel  "  When  I  see 
the  blood  I  will  pass  by  and  save  your  house 


.  t- 


i'    r 


1    .H  -■ 


It' 


42  PARDON  THROUGH  VICARIOUS  BLOOD 

from  destruction."  Ex.  xvii:  13.  The  same 
grand  idea  comes  out  in  the  prophets  seven 
hundred  years  later  when  Isaiah  saw  the  lamb 
slain  and  bearing  our  iniquities.  The  Baptist 
affirms  that  it  is  the  lamb  that  taketh  away 
the  sin  of  the  world.  It  is  moreover  the 
teaching  of  Paul  who,  in  his  historic  narrative 
declares  that  "  Christ  was  once  offered  to  bear 
the  sins  of  many.  *  *  *  "We  have  redemp- 
tion through  his  blood.  *  *  *  Neither 
was  the  first  testament  dedicated  without 
blood."  Ep.  i:  7;  v:  2;  Heb.  ix:  18-22.  While 
John  the  last  writer  in  the  canon  assures  us 
that  "  The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  God's  son, 
cleanseth  from  all  sin."  This  is  a  truth  that 
is  to  be  kept  prominent  in  heaven,  for  when 
the  eye  of  faith  turns  away  from  the  past  to 
the  future  and  obtains  a  glimpse  of  the  City  of 
God  and  of  the  saved  who  walk  in  the  light  of 
it,  we  discover  that  the  grand  center  of  all  at- 
traction is  still  the;  LAMB  who  was  once  slain 
but  now  on  His  throne,  on  whom  the  re- 
deemed shc,ll  look  through  all  the  ages  to 
come.  It  is  the  blood  of  Christ,  as  of  a  lamb, 
that  saves  us,  for  we  are  not  redeemed  with 
such  corruptible  things  as  silver  and  gold,  but 


1 


PARDON  THROUGH  VICARIOUS  BLOOD  43 

with  the  precious  blood  of  Christ,  as  of  a  lamb 
without  blemish  and  without  spot.  "  I  Pet.  i: 
18-19.  The  angels  sing  "Worthy  is  the 
Lamb  that  was  slain  "  but  the  redeemed,  in 
accents  more  personal  sing  "  Worthy  is  the 
Lamb  that  was  slain  for  us," 


■  •    i 


III 


CHRIST  THE  SA  VIOUR  IS    THE   SIN- 
NER'S SUBSTITUTE. 


He  Bore  Our  Sins  in  His  Own  Body  on  the 

Tree. 

You  are  redeemed  from  sin  and  brought 
home  to  glory  why  or  in  what  way  ?  Because 
Jesus — God's  Lamb — took  your  place,  paid 
your  debt,  died  for  your  sins,  and  bore  the 
curse  of  a  broken  law  in  your  stead  and  as 
your  substitute,  A  man  is  in  danger  of  being 
crushed  to  death  by  a  falling  wall,  a  neighbor 
jumps  forward  and  drags  him  away  and  his 
life  is  saved.  But  is  Christ  nothing  more  to 
me  than  this  ?  Did  He  merely  risk  His  life  to 
save  mine,  and  in  risking  it  He  lost  it  ?  Is 
this  a  true  description  of  the  decease  which  he 
accomplished  at  Jerusalem  ?  A  man  has  fal- 
len into  the  water  and  is  drowning,  I  throw  him 
a  rope,  he  catches  it  and  is  saved.  Is  this  all 
my  Saviour  did  for  me  ?  Or  did  Jesus  come 
down  to  this  world  to  give  us  an  example  of 
self  sacrifice  and  devotion  to  duty,  that  He 
might   make   a   favorable    impression  on  our 

44 


f 


T 


? 


CHRIST  THE  SINNER'S  SUBSTITUTE     45 

mind  and  heart  and  gain  us  to  His  side  ?  Is 
Christ  merely  a  teacher  of  great  truths,  an  ex- 
pounder of  wisdom,  a  wonderful  exhibition  of 
virtue,  a  gracious  benefactor,  or  only  a  re- 
vealer  of  God's  love  to  man  ?  Of  course  He 
is  all  this,  but  is  this  all  that  can  be  said  of 
Him  ?  Have  you  fathomed  the  depths  of  His 
riches  when  you  have  gone  so  far  ?  It  is  not 
by  His  incarnation  and  example  He  saves  us, 
but  by  His  blood  shedding;  we  are  saved  by 
the  precious  blood  of  Christ. 

Christ  Jesus  became  our  substitute  in  law, 
and  by  a  voluntary  act  of  grace  he  became  re- 
sponsible for  our  guilt,  and  as  our  sin-bearer 
was  made,  sin  for  us.  He  came  into  the  world 
not  merely  to  risk  his  life  but  to  give  it  a  ran- 
som for  many,  and  when  we  accept  Him  as 
our  strong  consolation,  we  know  that  we  have 
already  answered  for  all  our  sins  through  our 
substitute — the  Lord  our  righteousness — and 
when  clothed  in  His  royal  robes  we  need  not 
fear  to  appear  even  in  the  Divine  presence. 

Substitution — the  just  for  the  unjust — is  af- 
firmed in  the  most  explicit  terms,  and  repeated 
again  and  again  as  being  a  chief  truth.  He 
stood  in   the   room   of  the  sinner.     He   who 


46      CHRIST  THE  SINNER'S  SUBSTITUTE 


':5' 


if 


knew  no  sin  was  made  sin  for  us,  and  He  gave 
Himself  for  us  not  in  the  sense  of  being  for 
our  bcnetit,  for  our  good,  that  we  might  re- 
ceive aid  or  encouragement;  this,  of  course,  is 
true,  but  it  is  not  the  whole,  nor  yet  the  chief 
truth.  He  gave  Himself  for  us  as  one  occu- 
pying our  place,  assuming  our  liabilities,  pay- 
ing our  debts,  and  atoning  for  our  sins.  He 
took  our  place  under  the  law  which  we  had 
broken,  and  as  our  substitute  He  bore  our  sins 
in  His  own  body  on  the  tree.  The  teaching 
of  Scripture  on  this  subject  is  full  and  explicit. 
"  He  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions  and 
bruised  for  our  iniquities;  Christ  died  for  our 
sins;  He  gave  himself  for  us;  Christ  was  once 
offered  to  bear  the  sins  of  many;  He  was  de- 
livered for  our  offenses;  Christ  died  for  the 
ungodly;  He  hath  appeared  to  put  away  sin 
by  the  sacrifice  of  Himself;  Christ  hath  once 
suffered  for  sins,  the  just  for  the  unjust;  His 
own  self  bore  our  sins  in  His  own  body  on  the 
tree."  He  is  the  Lamb  which  God  provided 
for  Himself  and  who  suffered  in  our  room  that 
we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God 
in  Him. 

There  was  a  custom  among  the  Jews  which 


CHRIST  THE  SINNER'S  SUBSTITUTE     47 

will  explain  this  idea  of  substitution.  A  Lamb 
was  taken  and  the  priest  put  his  hands  on  its 
head  and  confessed  the  sins  of  the  people,  and 
there  was  the  symbolic  transfer  of  guilt  from 
them  to  it;  and  then  this  lamb  was  taken  and 
slain  as  bearing  the  guilt  of  the  people,  and 
atonement  was,  in  this  way,  made  for  their 
sins.  And  this  symbolic  lesson  was  designed 
to  point  them  to  God's  Lamb  who,  in  the  end 
of  the  world,  was  to  put  away  sin  by  the  sacri- 
fice of  Himself. 

"  My  faith  would  lay  her  hand 
On  that  dear  head  of  thine. 
While  like  a  penitent  I  stand 
And  there  confess  my  sin. 

I  lay  my  sins  on  Jesus 
The  spotless  Lamb  of  God, 
He  bears  them  all  and  frees  us 
From  the  accursed  load." 

And  when  we  are  called  on  to  believe  this  it 
is  not  to  implement  Christ's  work.  Our  faith 
is  not  the  supplement  to  what  He  has  done, 
the  completion  of  the  payment  to  be  made,  but 
it  is  a  simple  recognition  in  our  heart  that  full 
payment  has  been  made,  and  we  are  called  on 
to  accept  a  free  salvation  wrought  out  for  us 
by  the  Son  of  God.     God  does  not  forgive  me 


I'll 


lu 


48      ClfRISr  T/f/':  S/X\ER\S  SUnSTITUTE 

because  I  deserve  it.  He  justifies  the  ungodly 
who  behevc  in  Jesus.  He  makes  those  just 
who  are  unjust.  He  forj^nves  those  who  de- 
serve to  be  punished.  His  salvation  is  not 
for  the  good,  but  for  those  who  deserve  no 
favor  at  his  hands  for  Jesus  came  to  save  sin- 
ners, and,  therefore,  we  can  claim  to  have  a 
part  in  His  mission.  The  physician  heals  the 
sick,  and,  therefore.  He  can  heal  us.  How 
absurd  to  speak  of  pardoning  those  who  have 
never  offended,  or  forgiving  those  who  never 
needed  it.  Those  alone  need  to  be  justified 
who  have  no  righteousness  of  their  own.  It  is 
by  grace  we  are  saved  and  not  because  of  any 
good  He  either  sees  or  foresees  in  us. 

But  how  can  a  just  God  justify  the  ungodly } 
Let  Paul  answer.  "  But  now  the  righteousness 
of  God  without  the  law  is  manifest,  being  wit- 
nessed by  the  law  and  the  prophets,  even  the 
righteousness  of  God,  which  is  by  faith  of 
Jesus  Christ,  unto  all  and  upon  all  them  that 
believe,  for  there  is  no  difference.  For  all 
have  sinned  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of 
God.  Being  justified  freely  by  His  grace, 
through  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus. 
Whom  God  hath  set  forth  to  be  a  propitiation 


CHRIST  riri':  sixM'.r's  sunsriruTE    40 


throuf^h  faith  in  his  blood,  to  dechirc  his  ri^^ht- 
eoiisness  for  the  remission  of  sins  tliat  are  past, 
throuf;h  the  forbearance  of   God."     Koni.  iii: 

21-25. 

O,  the  depth  of  the  riches  t     What  an  out- 
flow  of   Christ's    infhiite   compassion   toward 
f^uiity   men  !     He  bears  our  sins  in  his  own 
body  on  the  tree,  and  receives  in  his  own  per- 
son the  wrath  of  God  due  to  us  for  sin.      His 
pure  heart  had  no  love  for  suffering,  but  his 
love  for  suffering  men  was  infinite,  and  it  sus- 
tained Him  while  drinking  the  cup  and  redeem- 
ing his  people.      It  was  His  love  and  not  the 
nails  driven  into  his  hands  and  feet  by  the  cruel 
executioner  that  bound  the  Saviour  to  the  trr 
"  Jesus   has   borne  the  death  penalty  on 
behalf.     Behold  the  wonder  !     There  he  hangs 
upon  the  cross  !    This  is  the  greatest  sight  you 
will  ever  see.      Son  of  God  and  Son  of  Man, 
there  he  hangs,  bearing  r^^i'-s  unutterable,  the 
just  for  the  urjust  thai  he  might  bring  us  to 
God.     Oh,  t'le  glorv  of  that  sight.     The  inno- 


cent pv 


lit  f^.  .1 


u. 


The   Holy  One  condemned. 


The  ever-blessed  made  a  curse.  The  infinitely 
glorious  put  to  a  shameful  death.  The  more  I 
look  at  the  sufferings  of  the  Son  of  God,  the 


1  ^  A 


5    V 


50 


a/R/ST  THE  SLWER'S  SUIiSTlTUrE 


more  sure  I  am  that  they  must  meet  my  case. 
Why  did  he  suffer,  if  not  to  turn  aside  the 
penalty  from  us.  If  then,  he  turned  it  aside 
by  his  death,  it  is  turned  aside  and  those  who 
believe  in  him  need  not  fear  it.  *  *  * 
Let  us  join  hands  and  stand  together  at  the 
foot  of  the  cross,  and  trust  our  souls  once  for 
all  to  him  who  shed  his  blood  for  the  guilty." 
— Spurgcon. 


I  1 1 

|i  i    i 


i  5 


h 


SUBSTITUTION,    THE   ONLY   EXPLA- 

NA  TION  OF  CIIR  IS  T  S  S  UF- 

FERINGS. 


He  Who  Knciv  no  Sin  Was  Made  Sin  For  Us. 

Christ  was  holy,  harmless,  undefiled  and 
separate  from  sinners.  He  was  that  holy  child 
Jesus  who  did  no  violence,  neither  was  there 
any  deceit  in  his  mouth.  He  was  God's  only 
begotten  and  well-beloved  Son.  How  was  it, 
then,  that  this  Holy  One  was  made  to  suffer 
more  than  any  of  Adam's  guilty  race  }  How 
was  this  innocent  Lamb  made  to  endure  this 
unspeakable  anguish  of  soul }  He  was  no  sin- 
ner and  yet  all  must  admit  that  he  was  treated 
as  an  outcast.  That  night  scene  in  Gethscmane, 
when  he  sweat  as  it  were  great  drops  of 
blood  is  a  proof  that  he  was  the  man  of  sorrows. 
Or  that  still  more  amazing  spectacle ;  the  Lamb 
of  God  nailed  to  a  tree,  and  lifted  up  to  die 
amid  the  jeers  of  his  enemies;  as  they  spit  upon 
him  and  pierced  his  side  till  his  agony  of  heart 
ends  with  his  life.  And  all  so  voluntarily  en- 
dured, for  when  Peter  would  defend  his  Mas- 


51 


I'" !  r 
II   ^ 


52 


SUBSTITUTION 


%  V 

*     jj  ,) 

1   ' 

i'  1! 

'  i  ' 

i  : 

1 


ter,  Jesus  commanded  him  to  put  up  his  sword 
saying  he  could  pray  to  his  Father  and  he 
would  send  him  more  than  ten  thousand  legions 
of  angels.  It  may  be  fairly  asked,  how  can 
this  seeming  contradiction  be  explained,  and 
the  anomaly  be  accounted  for,  of  one  so  holy 
and  beloved  jf  God  compelled  to  endure  not 
merely  the  wrath  of  his  enemies,  but  more  par- 
ticularly the  hiding  of  Jehovah's  face,  and  even 
to  have  the  vials  of  Divine  wrath  poured  out  on 
his  head  ?  Was  love  and  loyalty  ever  so  re- 
quited before  ?  How  could  such  seeming  in- 
justice ever  be  perpetrated  under  the  govern- 
ment of  a  righteous  Ruler  ? 

One  key  opens  all  the  chambers  of  this  mys- 
tery ;  one  truth  stands  as  the  center  piller  sup- 
porting the  whole  temple.  One  view  of  Christ's 
mcdiatorship,  as  the  substitute  of  his  people, 
sheds  a  light  and  a  lustre  on  all  his  other  rela- 
tions. It  gives  a  value  and  a  meaning  to  every 
other  incident,  and  throws  a  grandeur  around 
the  transactions  of  that  day  when  Jehovah 
smote  the  man  that  was  His  fellow.  God 
dealt  with  him  as  a  sinner  because  he  stood  in 
the  sinner's  place,  and  had  the  sins  of  his  peo- 
ple imputed  to  him.       When  we  are  told  that 


SUBSTITUTION  53 

the  Lord  laid  on  him  tlie  iniquity  of  us  all,  and 
that  he  was  made  sin  for  us,  we  need  no  other 
explanation  for  the  peculiar  nature  of  his  suf- 
ferings and  death.    It  was  the  sin  of  the  world, 
which,  as  an  unspeakable  weight,  caused  even 
the  Son  of  God  to  bow  his  head.     As  their  sub- 
stitute He  became  answerable  for  his  people, 
and  he  was  wounded  for  their  transgressions. 
And  this  sacrifice  was  voluntarily  offered  up  by 
Him  who  had  power  over  His  own  life.    When 
He  was  delivered  by  the  determinate  counsel 
and  foreknowledge  of  God,  yet  unlike  the  re- 
luctant victims  driven      '  Jewish  altars.      He 
made  a  willing  offering,  i '  d  exercised  his  power 
in  both  laying  down  his  life  and  in   taking  it 
again.      This  sacrifice  must  have  been  a  sweet 
smelling  savor  when  it  was  freely  rendered  by 
the  Eternal  Son  of  God's  eternal  love.     And 
this   Lamb  of   God   voluntarily  stood    as  the 
great  legal  substitute  of  his  people.      He  who 
knew  no  sin  was  made  sin  for  them. 


mmmmmmmm 


1 


;:! 


IMPUTATION— THE   EXCHANGE    OF 

GRACE. 


With  His  Strij^cs    We  Are  Healed. 

Christ  and  the  sinner  make  an  exchange. 
We  give  him  our  sins  to  bear  away,  and  he 
gives  us  his  righteousness  b}'^  which  we  are 
pardoned — accepted  in  the  beloved.  We  know 
that  God  pardons  sin,  for  he  justifies  the  un- 
godly. He  receives  the  prodigal  home  again. 
He  will  lift  us  from  the  dunghill  and  set  us 
among  princes.  But  on  wJiat  ground  will  God 
do  all  this?  What  does  God  look  to,  when 
with  respect  to  any  sinner  He  cancels  his  sins 
and  accepts  hin  as  a  child  }  When  God  par- 
dons, on  what  ground  does  he  do  it.  These 
questions  point  directly  to  Christ  as  the  only 
and  all-sufficient  ground — The  Lord,  our  right- 
eousness— the  rock  on  which  the  sinner  builds 
his  hopes.  Why  did  Christ  die;  and  why  am 
I  justified  }  My  sins  were  imputed  to  Christ, 
laid  to  his  account,  charged  upon  him,  and  he 
assumed  them,  and  as  my  substitute  he  atoned 
for  them.     But  Christ's  life  was  also  one  of 

54 


.f  ! 


\\\- 


IMPUTATION 


65 


obedience,  he  met  every  demand  of  the  law, 
he  magnified  it  and  made  it  honorable.  All 
this  constitutes  his  one  righteousness  which  is 
imputed  to  the  sinner.  And  on  the  ground  of 
this  imputed  righteousness  God  resolves  to  deal 
with  him,  and  treat  him  as  if  he  had  suffered 
what  Christ  suffered,  and  had  done  what  Christ 
did,  and  now  deserves  what  Christ  deserves. 

Dear  reader,  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law  for 
righteousness  to  every  one  that  believeth. 
Christ's  obedience  and  merit  become  yours 
through  your  union  to  him  by  faith."  Faith 
accepts  him  as  your  substitute,  your  perfect 
plea,  your  surety  at  law,  and  your  all-prevail- 
ing argument  before  God.  And  God  pardons 
you  not  because  you  have  a  broken  heart,  a 
penitent  i  art,  a  praying  heart,  a  believing 
heart,  or  a  pure  heart.  This  would  be  to  cover 
Christ's  robes  with  your  own  filthy  rags.  No 
righteousness  of  your  own  is  needed  to  supple- 
ment his,  or  add  to  his  all  glorious  completed 
work.  God  justifies  the  ungodly  for  there  are 
none  else  to  be  justified,  and  he  does  it  because 
of  what  the  blessed  Saviour  has  done   for  us. 

We  satisfy  the  claims  of  the  law  through 
our  representative,  i.  c. ,  our  sins  were  imputed 


if!  I! 


! 


■I 


Iv 


56  IMPUTATION 

to  Christ  and  became  the  ground  of  his  suffer- 
ings and  death,  and  his  righteousness  is  im- 
puted to  us  and  becomes  the  ground  of  our 
pardon  and  acceptance.  This  is  the  glorious 
exchange  of  the  Gospel;  the  bargain  that  grace 
makes.  Christ  made  sin  for  me,  and  I  made 
the  righteousness  of  God  in  him.  He  bearing 
my  sins  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree,  and  I  re- 
ceiving the  full  reward  of  his  merit. 

This  truth  is  emphasized  as  a  chief  truth  on 
the  Gospel — The  just  suffered  for  the  unjust; 
He  who  knew  no  sin  was  made  sin  for  us.  He 
bore  our  sins  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree.  He 
was  wounded  for  our  transgressions  and  bruised 
for  our  iniquities.  He  is  the  propitiation  for 
our  sins.  Christ  was  once  offered  to  bear  the 
sins  of  many.  Jesus,  that  he  might  sanctify 
the  people,  suffered  without  the  gate.  He 
humbled  himself  and  became  obedient  unto 
death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross.  He  was 
delivered  for  our  offences,  and  raised  again  for 
our  justification.  God  hath  not  appointed  us 
to  wrath,  but  to  obtain  salvation  by  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  who  died  for  us  that  whether  we 
wake  or  sleep  we  shall  live  together  with  him; 
in  due  time  Christ  died  for  the  ungodly.      We 


IMPUTATION 


m 


are  sanctified  through  the  offering  of  the  body 
of  Jesus  Christ.  Thus  exphcit  is  the  word  of 
God  in  regard  to  the  work  of  Christ,  and  its 
place  in  our  salvation. 


THE  GREA  T  MIRACLE  OF  GRACE. 


The  Lord  Laid  on  Him  the  Iniquity  of  Us  All. 

This  is  a  wonderful  truth  that  the  Lamb 
should  be  slain  for  us,  and  that  we  should  be 
healed  by  stripes  laid  on  one  who  is  Jehovah's 
fellow.  Deity  Himself  unrobing  that  he  might 
dwell  among  men  and  become  their  burden- 
bearer.  The  Second  person  in  the  Adorable 
Trinity  coming  to  put  away  sin  by  the  sacrifice 
of  himself.  Considered  as  a  fact  in  the  moral 
government  of  God  it  must  ever  stand  alone  in 
all  the  glories  of  a  Divine  mystery.  How 
wonderful  as  a  mere  subject  of  contemplation, 
that  Jehovah  should  lay  on  his  fellow  the 
iniquity  of  us  all,  and  that  he  should  be 
wounded  for  our  transgressions.  That  men 
should  suffer  is  not  a  wonderful  thing,  for  they 
are  sinners  living  in  a  world  of  sin,  but  that 
the  Eternal  Son  of  God  should  suffer,  is  one  of 
those  profound  doctrines  of  revelation  which 
gives  an  insight  into  the  Divine  ways  and  pur- 
poses which  otherwise  could  never  have  been 
known.     It  reveals  God's  heart  as  in  touch 

.      58 


THE  MIRACLE  OF  GRACE 


60 


with  human  need,  and  in  sympathy  with  sinful 
man.      It  represents  God  as  feehng  man's  loss 
and  yearning  for  his  recovery,  and   regarding 
this  recovery  as  so  momentous  to  Him  that  He 
does  not  think  it  too  great  a  sacrifice  that  his 
only  begotten  and  well-beloved   Son  should 
stoop  from  His  throne  of  infinite  power,  to  be- 
come the  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with 
grief,  and  even  to  be  wounded  for  our  trans- 
gressions,   and    his    soul    made    an    offering 
for  our  sins.     Yea,  we  are  told  that  the  Son  of 
Man  was  made  perfect  through  suffering,  nor 
was    it  his    mere    bodily   sufferings    that    are 
referred  to,  though  these  are  often  dwelt  upon 
and  described  as  if  they  formed  the  essence 
of  what  He  endured.     The  bodily  sufferings  of 
our  Saviour  were  not  greater  than  what  many  a 
martyr  has  endured  for  Christ's  sake  without  a 
murmur.      Even  delicate  women  have  rejoiced 
that  they  were  counted  worthy  to  suffer  torture 
of  body  as  great  as  His  when  it  was  suffered 
for  his  sake.     But  it  was  His  soul  that  was 
made  an  offering  for  sin.     He  gave  Himself  2iS 
the  atonement.      He  came  to  put  away  sin  by 
the  sacrifice  of  Himself.     It  was  not  his  body 
only,  but  Christ  Himself,  that  was  made  sin 


I'lrf 


rf 


GO  THE  MIRACLE  OF  GRACE 

for  us,  and  bore  the  wrath  of  God  in  our 
stead.  It  war  the  pouring  out  of  His  soul  that 
crushed  Him,  and  his  outward  sufferings  were 
merely  a  drop  in  the  bucket,  though  it  was 
all  that  human  eye  witnessed. 

Our  Lord's  agonized  cry,  repeated  again  and 
again,  shows  us  that  there  was  another  scene 
behind  the  visible,  where  God  was  laying  on 
Him  the  iniquities  of  us  all.  The  strange  dark- 
ness that  overshadowed  the  land  seemed 
emblematic  of  that  mysterious  agony  which 
Christ  felt,  when  the  withdrawal  of  His  father's 
face  broke  his  heart,  and  forced  Him  to 
cry  out:  "  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou 
forsaken  me."  This  was  not  the  mere  shrink- 
ing of  a  sentient  being  from  the  pain  of 
crucifixion,  it  was  this  and  far  more,  it  was  the 
shrinking  of  a  holy  person  from  the  horrid  load 
of  sin,  and  from  odious  contact  with  it.  It 
was  the  horror  of  great  darkness  that  came 
over  his  soul  when  human  guilt  was  laid  on 
Him  and  he  was  made  sin  for  us. 

And  this  offering  up  of  the  Son  of  Man  was 
not  a  thing  to  be  done  in  a  corner  for  its  range 
is  to  be  as  wide  as  the  universe  of  Jehovah. 
The  conflict  on  the  cross  decided  a  question  of 


THE  MIRACLE  OF  GRACE 


•1 


universal  importance  to  the  moral  government 
of  God,  and  one  that  related  to  more  than 
mere  human  affairs;  while  its  results  stretch 
far  beyond  the  ephemeral  transactions  of  time, 
and  we  do  not  doubt  but  that  all  the  ages  to 
come  will  be  laden  with  the  spoils  of  that  great 
day.  When  the  Lamb,  long  held  forth  to  the 
faith  of  the  church,  was  at  length  sacrificed  on 
the  great  day  of  atonement,  that  one  offering 
not  only  redeemed  His  people  but  it  also  had 
a  bearing  and  significance  as  wide  as  the  em- 
pire of  the  Almighty.  Satan  had  succeeded 
greatly  with  the  human  race,  and  his  sway  was 
fatal.  But  now,  his  kingdom  is  to  be  over- 
thrown, for  Christ  came  to  destroy  the  works 
of  the  devil  to  cast  out  Satan  and  bind  him  in 
chains.  The  principles  of  universal  govern- 
ment are  involved  in  the  solemn  transactions 
of  that  day.  No  wonder  then  that  this  offer- 
ing should  have  such  prominence  given  to  it, 
for  redemption  by  the  blood  of  Christ  is  the 
Gospel,  and  it  is  no  wonder  either  that  it 
should  be  the  subject  of  one  of  the  great 
commemorative  ordinances  in  the  Christian 
church. 


OUR 


"H 


i 


TRUST  IS   IN  CHRIST'S  WORK 
ALONE. 


The  Righteousness  of  God  Without  the  Law. 

We  are  complete  in  Him,  and  not  in  Him 
and  in  uui.-.elves  combined,  but  in  Him  alone. 
Our  ground  of  trust  must  be  in  the  Saviour  Him- 
self. Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law  as  a  ground  of 
justification,  though  not  as  a  rule  of  life.  By 
his  own  death  and  satisfaction  He  hath  filled 
it  up  from  one  end  to  the  other,  and  he  allows 
us  to  begin  with  a  righteousness  as  if  we  had 
ourselves  met  all  its  demands.  Some  people 
want  to  rest  on  their  feelings,  their  experi- 
ences, and  no  wonder  that  they  are  often  with- 
out peace,  for  these  are  so  fluctuating.  The 
devil,  who  rules  the  world  by  lies,  sees  you  in 
earnest,  and  his  plan  is  to  get  you  to  trust  in 
your  convictions,  your  tears,  your  prayers,  re- 
pentance, vows  or  duties;  but  your  obedience 
is  not  the  ground  of  your  pardon ;  it  springs 
from  it  as  from  a  living  root.  Our  works  arc 
not  the  cause,  but  the  fruits  of  a  saving  inter- 
est in  Christ.     We  do  not  begin  to  fulfill  the 

6a 


OUR  TRUST  IN  CHRIST'S  WORK 


63 


law  for  ourselves,  but  we  are  privileged  to  be- 
gin at  the  end  of  the  law  already  fulfilled  and 
magnified.  And  instead  of  being  burdened 
with  fear  lest  we  fail  in  our  endeavors  to  obey, 
we  get  Christ  in  a  moment  as  our  righteous- 
ness. Instead  of  striving  to  establish  our  own 
righteousness,  we  get  the  righteousness  which 
God  provides,  and  we  are  permitted  to  stand 
on  the  Rock  of  Ages,  which  no  storm  can 
shuke.  God  does  not  accept  you,  dear  reader, 
on  the  ground  of  anything  he  sees  in  you,  but 
accepts  you  in  the  beloved  and  makes  you 
complete  in  Him,  for  there  is  no  condemna- 
tion to  them  who  are  in  Christ  Jesus. 

Through  the  free  grace  of  God  we  claim 
Christ  as  our  Saviour,  and  from  Him  we  ob- 
tain all  that  pertains  to  life  and  godliness. 
We  are  not  under  the  law  but  under  grace, 
and  as  the  heirs  of  His  grace  we  are  not  re- 
quired to  give  anything  to  God  as  barter — so 
much  for  so  much.  We  are  receivers  and  God 
is  the  giver,  and  He  who  spared  not  His  own 
Son  but  gave  Him  up  unto  the  death  for  us  all, 
will  also  with  Him,  freely  give  us  all  things. 
You  often  hear  it  urged  upon  the  anxious — 
"  You  must  give  your  heart  to  God;  give  your 


f 


^ 


64 


oi/A'  TRi'sr  /y  c/fRisrs  work 


'hi 


'lliii 


heart  to  Gt)(l."  And  \vc  do  not  say  the  heart 
should  not  be  }^Mven  to  God,  indeed  He  puts 
forth  the  claiiu  for  our  luarts.  l>ut  tlie  way 
in  which  this  is  often  urt^ed,  converts  the  Gos- 
pel into  law,  and  not  eve.i  our  hearts  are  to  be 
given  as  barter  for  salvation. 

The  Gospel  urges  you  to  accept  a  full  salva- 
tion from  sin  and  condemnation  as  God's  gift 
to  you,  purchased  with  the  blood  of  His  dear 
Son,  and  when  you  do  this  your  heart  will  be 
His  in  a  moment,  and  then  you  will  begin  to 
be  influenced  by  love.  A  sinner  does  not  even 
bring  a  bel'eving  heart  to  Christ,  for  faith  itself 
is  his  gift,  and  we  get  it  and  all  other  bless- 
ings alter  we  have  come. 

"We  a.<'  coming  to  a  Kinj;, 
Large  pctitionir  w  ith  thee  bring." 

In  a  letter  to  a  friend  Dr.  ChaLiiers  wrote  as 
follows  :  "  I  must  say  that  I  never  had  so 
close  and  satisfactory  a  view  of  the  Gospel  sal- 
vation as  when  I  have  been  led  to  contemplate 
it  in  the  light  of  a  simple  offer,  on  the  one 
side,  and  a  simple  acceptance  on  the  other 
It  is  just  saying  to  one  and  to  all  of  us  '  There 
is  forgiveness  through  the  blood  of  my  Son; 


OUR  TRUST  IN  CHRIST S  WORK 


05 


take  it';  and  whosoever  believes  the  reaUty  of 
the  offer  takes  it.  It  is  not  in  any  shape  the 
reward  of  our  own  services — it  is  the  gift  of 
God  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  It  is  not 
given  because  you  are  worthy  to  receive  it,  but 
because  it  is  a  gift  worthy  of  our  kind  and 
reconciled  Father  to  bestow." 

How  prone  to  self  righteousness  we  are: 
When  driven  out  of  one  corner  it  lurks  in  an- 
other, and  sometimes  it  assumes  the  very  lan- 
guage of  grace.  You  say,  "  In  order  to  be 
saved  I  must  first  be  this  or  that;  must  do  this 
or  that."  But  he  who  trusts  the  Saviour  will 
both  be  all  and  do  all,  as  the  result  of  salvation 
— its  blessed  fruits — and  not  a  price  paid  to 
buy  God's  gifts.  If  it  is  the  ungodly  who  are 
justified,  salvation  must  come  to  us  before  we 
can  enjoy  any  of  its  results.  Jesus  takes  us 
without  anything  to  recommend  us,  and  let  us 
come  when  we  may,  we  bring  nothing  with  us 
but  our  sins. 

•'Nothing  in  my  hands  I  bring; 
Simply  to  thy  cross  I  cHng; 
Naked,  come  to  thee  for  dress; 
Helpless,  look  to  thee  for  grace; 
Foul,  I  to  the  fountain  fly; 
Wash  me,  Saviour,  or  I  die," 


w 


66 


OUR  TRUST  IN  CHRIST'S  WORK 


il 


''*;*i 


Our  Lord  is  a  Saviour,  and  He  shed  his  blood 
to  wash  away  real,  deep,  crimson  stains  which 
nothing  else  could  wash. 

Sinners,  and  not  the  righteous  need  a  Saviour; 
those  who  are  bound  need  the  prison  doors  to 
be  flung  open;  the  sick  need  the  physician  and 
not  those  who  are  whole.  So  our  sins  are  the 
reason  for  the  Gospel's  peculiar  and  gracious 
provision — "I  believe  in  the  forgiveness  of  sins. ' 
Not  the  forgiveness  of  David's  sins,  or  Peter's 
sins,  but  in  the  forgiveness  of  my  own  sins 
through  the  blood  of  Jesus.  Even  Maj*y  ^aid 
hold  of  this  thought  and  rejoiced  in  it  rather 
than  in  the  fact  that  she  was  his  human  mother. 
She  gloried  more  in  the  connection  which  she 
had  with  Him  in  common  with  the  multitude 
of  the  redeemed,  than  in  that  maternal  rela- 
tionship in  which  it  was  her  privilege  and  honor 
to  stand.  "  My  spirit  rejoiceth  in  God  my 
Sav  iour. "  Not  so  much  that  Jesus  was  her  Son 
as  that  he  was  her  Saviour,  inspired  her  heart 
with  lofty  praise,  and  faith  does  for  us  what 
it  did  for  her. 


WHAT  IS  MEANT  BY  TRUSTING 
CHRIST 


My  Lord,  and  My  God. 
What  is  faith  ?     What  is  it  to  beheve  on 
Him  to  the  salvation  of  the  soul  ?     In  order 
to  trust  Christ  we  must  know  something  of  Him. 
Religion  is  impossible  without  some  knowledge 
of  its  object,  but  then  religion   is  more   than 
knowledge  as  man  is  more  than  a  cultivated  in- 
tellect.    Religion  is  essentially  a  relation  to  a 
living  person;  it  is  trust  in  the  Saviour.   "  They 
that  know  thy  name  will  put  their  confidence 
in  thee."     He  that  cometh  to  God  must  be- 
lieve that  He  is,  and  that  he  is  the  rewarder 
of  all  who  dilige  Uly  seek  Him.     And  the  spirit 
of  truth  alone  Ccin  give  us  the  spirit  of  knowl- 
edge  and  of  the  fear  of  the  Lord.     To  trust 
Christ  we  must  know  Christ  as  one  who  was 
made  sin  for  us.      "  Drink  deep,"  says  Spur- 
geon,  "  into  the  doctrine  of  the  substitutionary 
work  of  Christ;  for  therein  lies  the  sweetest 
possible  comfort  to  the  guilty  sons  of  men, 
since  the  Lord   •  made  him  to  be  sin  for  us,' 


'',■  I 


68 


TRUSTING  CHRIST 


I  < 


II 


that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of 
God  in  him.'  Faith  begins  with  knowledge." 
To  have  such  appropriating  knowledge  as  to 
feel  tnat  my  beloved  is  mine  and  I  am  his, 
to  know  Him  as  my  Saviour  whose  blood 
cleanseth  from  all  sin,  bring  in  the  element  of 
trust,  and  we  learn  to  commit  our  souls  to  Him 
as  to  a  faithful  Creator.  As  a  child  trusts  its 
mother  and  lies  in  her  arms,  so  we  trust  Him 
and  lie  in  the  everlasting  arms  of  the  Beloved. 
It  was  more  the  custom  in  the  past  gener- 
ation to  demand  belief  coticerning  Christ,  now, 
with  a  truer  appreciation  of  fundamental  dis- 
tinctions we  demand  a  belief  in  Christ,  i.  e.y 
we  are  to  believe  in  Christ  and  not  merely 
abo24t  Him.  Religion  formerly  was  made  more 
impersonal  than  it  is  now,  and  men  were  more 
apt  to  believe  doctrines  than  to  believe  in  the 
Son  of  Man.  The  teaching  of  the  Gospel  re- 
quires us  not  merely  to  believe  in  the  divinity 
of  Christ,  but  also  that  we  believe  a  divine 
Christ. 

"Jesus,  my  Lord,  I  know  his  name, 
His  name  is  all  my  boast, 
Nor  will  he  put  my  soul  to  shame 
Nor  let  my  hope  be  lost." 


TRUSTING  CHRIST  69 

But  while  we  hear  a  p^ood  deal  just  now  of  a 
distinction  which  some  are  anxious  to  draw 
between  faith  in  Christ,  and  belief  in  a  doc- 
trine; and  while  we  admit  that  there  is  such  a 
distinction,  yet  the  one  must  never  be  set  over 
against  the  other  as  if  these  two  things  were 
opposed.      For   when    faith   in  Christ  is  de- 
manded, the  question  is  at  once  asked.  Who  is 
He  ?  and  the  answer  to  this  is  a  doctrine.    Nay, 
What  is  faith  >  this  answer  again  is  a  doctrine, 
so  that  doctrine  and  vital  Christianity  are  parts 
of  each  other.     Doctrines  are  not  to  be  re- 
garded as  abstract  propositions,  or  dead  dog- 
mas, but  vitalized  principles  as  they  lead  up 
to,  circle  around,  and  inhere  in  the  Person  of 
Christ  who  is  the   object  of  our  faith.     We 
rest  not  in  our  knowledge,  our  experiences,  or 
our  feelings,  but  in  Himself—"'  Blessed  are  all 
they  that  put  their  trust  in  Him." 

Faith  is  the  bond  1  '^tween  the  soul  and  the 
Saviour,  and  through  this  channel  His  grace 
flows  into  our  hearts.  We  are  led  to  feel  that 
Christ  is  all  that  He  is  declared  to  be,  can  do 
all  He  has  promised  to  do,  and  we  believe  His 
word,  because  we  believe  Himself  and  expect 
all  this  at  His  hands.     He  has  promised  to 


7 


r 


10 


TRUSTING  CHRIST 


1' 


1 

!' 

1 

1 
^  t. 

1  \ 

■  \ 

h 

•  1 


give  rest  to  all  that  come  unto  Him;  He  has 
said  "  The  water  that  I  will  give  thee  will  be 
in  thee  a  well  of  water  springing  up  into  ever- 
lasting life,"  and  we  feel  that  this  is  all  true, 
that  if  we  get  this  living  water  from  Christ  it 
will  be  ours  forever  and  will  well  up  in  us  in 
streams  of  holy  life. 

Spurgeon,  in  his  admirable  little  book — 
"  All  of  Grace''  illustrates  the  nature  of  faith 
in  the  following  manner.  He  says  faith  is  an 
eye  which  looks.  By  the  eye  we  bring  into  the 
mind  that  which  is  far  away.  So  by  trust  we 
bring  the  Lord  Jesus  near  to  us,  and  though 
He  be  far  away  in  heaven,  He  enters  into  our 
heart. 

"There  is  life  for  a  look  at  the  Crucified  One, 
There  is  Hfe  at  this  moment  tor  thee." 

Faith  is  the  hand  which  grasps.  When  our 
hand  takes  hold  of  anything  for  itself,  it  does 
precisely  what  faith  does  when  it  appropriates 
Christ  and  the  blessings  of  His  redemption. 
Faith  says,  "Jesus  is  mine."  Faith  hears  of 
the  pardoning  blood,  and  cries,  "  I  accept  it  to 
pardon  me.''  Faith  calls  the  legacies  of  the 
dying  Jesus  her  own;  and  they  are  her  own, 
for  faith  is  Christ's  heir;  He  has  given  Himself 


TRUSTING  CHRIST  71 

and  all  that  He  has  to  faith.  Take,  O,  friend 
that  which  grace  has  provided  for  thee.  You 
will  not  be  a  thief,  for  you  have  a  divine  per- 
mit. "Whoesoever  will,  let  him  take  the 
water  of  life  freely."  He  who  may  have  a 
treasure  simply  by  his  grasping  it  will  be  foolish 
indeed  if  her  remains  poor. 

Faith  is  a  mouth  that  feeds  upon  Christ. 
Before  food  can  nourish  us,  it  must  be  received 
into  us.  So  Paul  says,  "  The  word  is  nigh 
thee,  even  in  thy  mouth."  Now  then,  all  that 
is  to  be  done  is  to  swallow  it,  to  suffer  it  to  go 
down  into  the  soul.  Oh  that  man  had  an  ap- 
petite !  for  he  who  is  hungry  and  sees  meat 
before  him  does  not  need  to  be  taught  how  to 
eat. 

Sometimes  faith  is  little  more  than  clinging 
to  Christ,  a  sense  of  dependence  and  a  willing- 
ness so  to  depend.  Thousands  of  God's  peo- 
ple have  no  more  faith  than  this;  they  know 
enough  to  cling  to  Jesus  with  all  their  heart 
and  soul,  and  this  suffices  for  present  peace  and 
eternal  safety.  Jesus  Christ  is  to  them  a 
Saviour  strong  and  mighty,  a  rock  immovable 
and  immutable,  they  cleave  to  Him  for  dear 
life,  and  this  clinging  saves  them. " 


72 


TRUSTING  CHRIST 


I'll 


I J 


lillii: 


1!^ 


Many  treat  their  faith  as  if  it  were  a  sub- 
stitute for  Christ;  but  faith  is  merely  the  chan- 
nel through  which  floods  of  mercy  flow  to  the 
soul  from  grace,  the  living  fountain  head. 
Faith  is  our  coming  to  Christ  as  the  result  of 
the  divine  drawing. 

A  great  message  may  be  sent  over  a  thin 
wire  that  can  scarcely  bear  its  own  weight.  A 
trembling  hand  may  receive  a  precious  gift. 
So  the  salvation  of  our  God  may  come  to  us 
though  our  faith  touch  only  the  hem  of  His 
garment.  A  weak  faith  often  binds  many  a 
trembling  soul  to  the  Saviour,  and  our  trust  is 
not  in  our  faith  or  feelings,  but  in  Him  who 
redeems  us  to  God  by  His  own  blood,  and  to 
whom  faith  unites  us.  It  is  not  by  works  of 
righteousness  that  we  have  done,  but  by  His 
mercy  He  saves  us.  Or  as  Paul  put  it  in  an- 
other place,  "  To  him  that  worketh  not,  but 
believeth  on  Him  that  justifies,  his  faith  is 
counted  for  righteousness," 

You  purchase  your  ticket  that  carries  you 
from  Montreal  to  New  York.  When  the 
proper  car  is  pointed  out  and  you  have  seated 
yourself  you  have  no  doubt  about  your  desti- 
nation,  and  barring  accidents  you  will  arrive 


TRUSTING  CHRIST  73 

there  in  good  time;  you  are  not  afraid  of  be- 
ing landed  elsewhere.     The  conductor  comes 
along,  you  are  on  the  right  line,  in  the  proper 
car,  your  ticket  is  properly  stamped  and  noth- 
ing troubles  you  more.     But  here  is  another 
road  called  the  highway  of  holiness  that  leads 
from  guilt  to  glory,  along  which  the  unclean 
do  not  pass,  for  it  is  for  the  ransomed  of  the 
Lord  to  pass  over  on  their  way  home.     The 
Lord  Himself  has  opened  up  the  way;  He  has 
provided  the  conveyance;  He  has  even  paid 
the  fare;  and  now  He  comes  to  you  today,   a 
weary  wanderer  on  life's  sinful  way,   pacing 
the  sad  round  with  a  heavy  burden  upon  you, 
and  he  says,   "  Come,  get  in  and  I  will  carry 
you  to  glory  land,  come,  join  the  ransomed  of 
the  Lord  and  I  will  brjug  you  home."     So  we 
simply  accept  the  privelege  and  step  into  the 
chariot  of  His  grace  to  be  taken  home. 


^! 


nm 


<  I 


I 


ii 


OUR  DELIVERANCE  FROM  THE  PRES- 
ENCE AND  POWER  OF  S/N. 


Wash 


liiti 


;',  and  I  Shall  Be 

Will  not  this  doctrine  of  free  pardon  by 
faith,  without  the  works  of  the  law,  be  preju- 
dicial to  morality  ?  Will  it  not  overturn  our 
obligations  to  obey  th'^  law  of  God  and  to  dis- 
charge the  common  moralities  of  life  ?  This  is 
precisely  the  objection  that  was  made  to  this 
doctrine  in  Paul's  day  which  the  Apostle  an- 
swered, "  Do  we  make  void  the  law  through 
faith  ?  God  forbid !  Yea,  we  establish  the 
law.  Shall  we  continue  in  sin  that  grace  may 
abound?  God  forbid!  How  shall  we  who 
are  dead  to  sin  live  any  longer  therein  ?  "  This 
of  itself  is  a  proof  that  the  doctrine  we  are  in- 
culcating in  these  pages  is  the  same  which  the 
Apostle  taught. 

We  insist  on  the  necessity  of  a  consistent 
Christian  life,  the  cultivation  of  all  the  graces 
and  the  need  of  good  works  in  all  justified  per- 
sons. The  orb  of  Christianity  divides  itself 
into  two  hemispheres,  doctrines  to  be  believed, 

Ik 


I 


r>ELrVERANCE  FROM  SIN  75 

and  a  life  to  be  lived,  so  that  men  are  bound 
not  only  to  believe  the  truths  of  the  Gospel, 
but  also  to  obey  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel.' 
While  faith  alone  justifies,  it  is  not  a  faith  that 
stands  alone,  but  one  that  works  by  love,  it  is 
not  a  dead  faith,  but  a  living  root  in  the 
Saviour,  from  which  grow  all  the  goodness— 
the  charities  and  amenities  of  life.  In  order 
to  escape  the  wrath  of  God  due  to  us  for  sin, 
God  requireth  of  us  repentance  unto  life  as 
well  as  faith  in  Jesus  Christ. 

The  anxious  sinner  feels  that  pardon  alone 
will  not  meet  his  case.     He  says,  "  If  pardoned 
this  moment  I  am  sure  to  sin  again.    No  surer 
does  a  stone  return  to  the  ground  that  the 
hand  has  thrown  up  into  the  air,  than  that  I 
will  return  to  my  sins  again  as  a  sow  that  is 
washed  to  her  wallowing  in  the  mire.     The 
old  nature  within  me  is  so  strong  that  if  all  my 
past  guilt  were  taken  away  I  would  be  sure  to 
incur  fresh  condemnation,  for  there  are  such 
fearful   tendencies  to  evil  within  me,   that  I 
might  as  well  attempt  to  calm  the  storm  and 
hold  the  north  wind  in  check  as  quell  the  tem- 
pest that  may,  at  any  time  arise  in  my  heart. " 
But  pardon,  or  deliverance  from  thd  guilt  of 


w 


% 


DELIVERANCE  FROM  SIM 


ill 


'  I  i  ' 


1 
I  i  * 


sin  is  only  one  aspect  of  salvation,  Christ  has 
also  made  provision  for  changing  our  moral 
nature,  making  us  holy  and  restoring  us  to  the 
moral  likeness  of  God.  Our  spiritual  re- 
newal, like  our  pardon,  are  both  traceable  to 
that  faith  which  unites  us  to  Christ,  and  He 
will  save  us,  alike  from  the  power  and  presence 
of  sin,  its  disease  and  doom  as  well  as  from  its 
condemnation.  More  is  needed  than  a  title  to 
heaven,  we  require  a  moral  fitness  as  well,  and 
we  have  both  in  Him  who  is  our  sanctification 
as  well  as  our  righteousness.  He  has  in  His 
gracj  made  as  ample  provisi<  ,i  for  the  one  as 
for  the  other,  and  his  salvation  meets  both  the 
curse  and  the  stains  of  sin. 

"  Holiness  in  its  widest  sense  is  presented  to 
us  in  scripture  (i)  as  a  gift  bestowed  on  men 
by  God,  and  (2),  as  a  duty  or  matter  of  obliga- 
tion which  God  requires  of  them.  When  it  is 
viewed  as  a  grace  or  gift  bestowed  upon,  and 
wrought  in  us,  then  we  have  just  to  consider 
what  provision  God  has  made  for  imparting  it. 

"  From  men's  natural  state  and  condition,  it  is 
indispensably  necessary,  in  order  to  their  final 
happiness,  that  a  change  be  effected  both  upon 
their  state  and  condition  judicially  in  relation 


ai. 


DELIVERANCE  FROM  SIN 


rr 


to  God  and  His  law,  and  upon  their  moral 
nature,  principles  and  tendencies;  that  God  has 
provided  fc  -  affectin-^^  both  these  changes,  by 
giving  His  Son  to  be  the  surety  and  substitute 
of  His  people;  and  that  He  communicates  to 
men  individually  both  these  gifts  by  uniting 
them  to  Christ  through  th(^  agency  or  in- 
strumentality of  faith  on  their  part  which 
He  works  in  them.  It  was  necessary  that  both 
these  changes  should  be  effected,  that  both 
these  gifts  should  be  bestov.ed.  God  has 
made  effectual  provision  for  imparting  and 
securing  both.  They  are  both  found  in  Christ 
when  men  are  united  to  Him.  They  are  both 
affected  or  conferred,  as  to  their  immediate  or 
proximate  cause,  through  that  faith  by  which 
this  union  to  Christ  is  brought  about.  The 
two  things  can  not  be  separated,  because  God 
has  made  equally  certain  provision  for  affecting 
and  bestowing  both,  and  has  clearly  revealed 
it  to  us  in  His  word  as  a  fundamental  principle  of 
his  unchangeable  arrangements  that  wherever 
He  confers  the  one  he  always  confers  the 
other." — Cunningham. 

Sin  has  changed  our  relations  and  debased 
our  character,  and  thus  we  need  both  pardon 


78 


DELIVERANCE  FROM  SIN 


\  '1 


I 


and  justification.  We  need  to  have  our  sins 
forgiven  and  our  hearts  changed,  and  this  was 
the  double  purpose  for  which  Christ  died.  His 
atonement  is  the  procuring  cause  of  both,  and 
this  two-fold  effect  was  represented  by  the 
water  and  the  blood  which  flowed  from  His 
side. 

"Let  the  water  and  the  blood, 

From  thy  riven  side  that  flowed, 
Be  of  sin  the  double  cure. 
Cleanse  nie  from  its  guilt  and  power." 

When  God  pardons.  His  spirit  begins  to 
wash  out  the  stains,  and  these  two  graces  are 
always  in  conjunction,  for  the  faith  that  looks 
to  Christ  and  appropriates  His  righteousness 
and  through  which  alone  we  are  forgiven,  has 
its  very  origin  in  the  change  by  which  we  are 
sanctified.  The"  fountain  opened,  is  opened 
for  sins — uncleanness  as  well  as  for  guilt. 

"  There  is  a  fountain  filled  with  blood 
Drawn  from  Immanucl's  veins, 
And  sinners  plunged  beneath  that  flood, 
Lose  all  their  guilty  stains." 

His  salvation  would  have  been  incomplete  if 
it  had  not  dealt  with  this  part  of  our  moral 
nature  for  we  need  the  renewing  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  cause  us  to  die  unto  sin  and  live  unto 


DELIVERANCE  FROM  SIN  79 

righteousness.  Pardon  without  purity  is  not 
the  salvation  of  Christ  for  He  not  only  calls 
the  leper  clean  but  cleanses  him;  not  only  par- 
dons the  rebel  but  makes  him  loyal  in  heart  to 
the  King;  not  only  saves  us  from  the  conse- 
quences, but  removes  the  cause;  He  will  cleanse 
the  fountain  of  defilement  as  well  as  stop  the 
streams,  for  Jesus  came  to  save  His  people 
from  the  presence  and  power  of  sin,  no  less 
than  to  remove  its  penalty.  Not  only  must 
there  be  a  sentence  of  pardon  passed  without 
us,  but  also  a  work  of  grace  wrought  within  us 
and  this  is  what  God  has  promised  to  do,  "  A 
new  heart  also  will  I  give  you,  and  a  new  spirit 
will  I  put  within  you;  and  I  will  take  away  the 
stony  heart  out  of  your  flesh,  and  I  will  give 
you  an  heart  of  flesh."  /md  our  Saviour-God 
will  keep  this,  as  He  does  all  His  other  prom- 
ises, and  will  work  in  n-'r  fu  art  the  work  of 
faith  with  power.  "  :'he.^  w^'l  I  sprinkle  clean 
water  upon  yor  and  y-z  slial  )e  clean,  from  all 
your  filthiness  ri.«/  ("o:-  ph  your  idols  will  I 
cleanse  you."  And  we  need  only  consider 
the  provision  He  has  made  in  His  grace  to 
secure  all  the  blessings  of  the  covenant,  for 
they  are  all  included  in  Christ's  unsearchable 


80 


DELIVERANCE  FROM  SIN 


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riches  and  bestowed  upon  us  by  Him.  He 
sends  His  spirit  to  quicken  us,  to  work  faith  in 
our  heai  ts^  to  sow  the  seeds  of  grace  within  us, 
and  He  will  gradually  remove  our  old  man  and 
strengthen  the  new.  If  I  by  my  spirit  can  in- 
fluence a  brother  then  surely  Christ  by  His 
spirit  can  influence  me  and  enable  me  to  grow 
in  His  likeness.  "  He  comes  to  us,  and  speaks 
to  us,  not  merely  as  a  messenger  sent  from  the 
court  of  heaven  offering  us  pardon  and  am- 
nesty for  offences,  and  putting  into  our  hands 
documents,  sealed  with  blood,  which  we  may 
b''-and-by  present  at  the  judgment  seat,  to 
secure  from  sentence  being  pronounced  against 
us  there;  but  also  as  a  skillful  physician, 
gently  and  faithfully  inquiring  into  the  condi- 
tion of  our  enfeebled,  distorted,  diseased  sonJs, 
and  offering  us  help,  and  relief,  and  healing. 
He  asks  us  to  believe  in  Him,  in  this  character 
as  well  as  the  other.  He  asks  us  to  trust  for 
healing  as  much  as  for  forgiveness.  He  asks 
us  not  only  to  take  the  sealed  documents  of 
pardon  from  His  hand  with  no  misgiving  doubt 
of  their  validity,  but  also  to  let  Him  lay  His 
hands  on  us,  that  divine  virtue  may  come  forth 
from  Him,  to  make  us  whole  of  whatever  dis- 


DELIVERANCE  FR  OM  SIN  81 

ease  we  have;  whatever  form  or  type  of  the 
disease  of  sin— whether  its  bhndness,  its  be- 
numbing paralysis;  or  its  polluting  and  con- 
suming leprosy." 

What  1,'  the  salvation  of  Christ  in  its  es- 
sence ?  and  vhat  was  His  purpose  in  coming  ? 
It  is  not  deliverance  from  suffering,  and  safety 
from  punishment;  it  was  not  to  keep  us  out  of 
hell.     He  came  to  make  us  like  Himself,  and 
we  rejoice  that  He  who  forgives  our  iniquities 
also  heals  our  diseases.     He  who  removes  the 
stains  of  our  past  guilt  will  also  hft  us  out  of 
the  foul  ways  of  the  present,  and  keep  us  from 
falling  in  the  future,     h  nd  all  the  graces  of  our 
renewed  life  are  the  companions  of  our  pardon 
and  not  the  cause  of  it,  and  faith  is  as  much 
God's  gift  as  the  Saviour  is,  and  our  sanctifi- 
cation  is  as  much  the  work  of  His  grace  as 
the  atonement  by  which  all  sin  is  blotted  out. 
We  were  chosen  in  Christ  before  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world  that  we  should  be  holy  and 
without  blame  before  Him  in  love,   and  He 
gives  us  His  spirit  to  change  us  into  the  same 
image    from   glory    to   glory.      Christ   as   our 
Saviour  is  not  divided  in  His  offices,  so  that 
He  is  not  made  a  priest  to  any  to  whom  He  is 


r 


It-!  : 


82  DELIVERANCE  FROM  STN 

not  also  made  a  king  to  rule  their  hearts  in 
love. 

We  are  brought  into  union  with  the  Saviour, 
grafted  into  Him  as  the  branch  in  the  vine  to 
pprtake  of  His  life  and  beauty,  and  when  His 
spirit  comes  to  take  of  the  things  that  are 
Christ's  and  show  them  to  us;  to  shed  abroad 
the  love  of  God  in  our  heart;  to  create  within 
us  the  summer  and  sunshine  of  faith  and  hope; 
we  then  feel  that  the  darkness  is  passing  away 
and  the  true  light  is  beginning  to  shine  that 
vvill  usher  in  the  perfect  day,  Christ  was 
crucified  and  our  old  man  was  crucified  with 
Him  that  the  body  of  sin  might  be  destroyed 
that  henceforth  we  should  not  serve  sin. 
And  when  we  are  brought  into  fellowship  with 
jesus,  always  walkng  with  Him,  ab.vays  look- 
ing to  Him,  always  thinking  upon  Him, 
and  doing  everything  under  His  cbnscious 
presence  and  to  please  Him;  when  we  study 
His  words,  His  acts,  His  life;  and  breathe  the 
holy  atmosphere  which  His  spirit  creates 
around  us,  we  get  His  mind  and  are  changed 
into  His  image.  In  short,  when  we  have  His 
love  poured  into  our  hearts  we  will  then  learn 
to   run   in  the  way    of   His   commandments. 


■s 


DELIVERANCE  FROM  SIN  fig 

Have  you  made  that  great  exchange  of  grace 
and  are  you  believing  in  your  heart  that  Christ 
is  yours  ?  Then  what  you  have  received  is  a 
complete  salvation,  and  Christ  is  made  unto 
you  wisdom,  righteousness,  sanctification  and 
redemption. 


F 


I!  11^ 


THE  ADAPTATION  OF   THIS   TRUTH 
TO  THE   WANTS  OF  THE  SOUL. 


Ye  Are  Complete  in  Him. 

His  stripes  heal  us  !  This  is  the  essence  of 
the  Gospel  and  as  such  it  will  never  lose  its 
spiritual  significance,  and  commanding  power 
over  the  heaits  of  men;  nor  will  the  quickened 
life  ever  grow  weary  of  it.  We  never  grow 
weary  of  the  spring  time;  the  opening  flowers 
are  as  pure  and  sweet,  and  charming  as  if  they 
were  blooming  for  the  first  time;  the  warm 
summer  winds,  and  soft  gentle  rain,  are  as  wel- 
come now  as  when  they  first  refreshed  the 
earth.  Nor  do  we  ever  grow  weary  of  the  sun 
though  he  has  shone  over  the  generations  of 
men  since  the  beginning  of  days.  He  came 
forth  this  morning  with  all  the  inspiration  he 
ever  had,  while  to  the  last  day,  men  will  turn 
with  yearning  hearts  to  the  brightness  of  his 
rising,  and  will  welcome  his  coming  as  the  old 
patriarch  did,  who  felt  that  it  was  such  a  pleas- 
ant thing  to  behold  the  sun. 

And  so  is  it  with  those  great  and  gracious 

84 


ADAPTA  TUN  OF  TR  UTH  85 

■    truths  which  we  have  been  considering—the 
Messiah  cut  off  but  not  for  himself— the  Mes- 
siah wounded  for  our  transgressions.     It  is  all 
of  grace,  and  as  much  fitted  for  one  as  an- 
other, for  one  class  as  another,  and  for  one 
condition  of  life  as  for  another.     And  when 
the  love  of  God  has  been  shed  abroad  in  the 
heart  and  Christ  formed  within  us  the  hope  of 
glory  he  becomes  from  that  day  a  source  of 
lasting  joy.     There  is  no  truth  more  needful  of 
enforcement,   or   better  fitted  to  correct  the 
practical  errors  of  our  times,  for  it  comes  with 
such  divine  adaptation  to  the  hunger  and  thirst 
of  the  heart.     This  is  the  true  bread,  and  as 
sensible  men  and  women  in  earnest  about  sal- 
vation, we  must  seek  no  other  portion  than 
what  we    find  in   the  humble  acceptance  of 
Christ  and  Him  crucified.     There  are  so  many 
poor  dependent  people,  what  can  we  say  to 
them  that  will  help  them  to  bear  their  burdens.? 
We  point  them  to  Him  who  though  rich  for 
their  sakes  became  poor,  and  that  they  can  be 
made  rich  in  a  moment  by  the  acceptance  of 
an  unfading  acceptance.    While  to  the  wealthy 
what  better  message  can  we  bring  than  this .? 
What   will   keep   men   from   the   sins   which 


W' 


86 


ADAPTATION  OF  TRUTH 


I  ■■ " 


ii! 


il. 


I  ■  '. 


m. 


wealth  brings,  and  comfort  them  when  called 
on  to  give  up  all  that  this  world  holds  most 
dear  ?  It  is  to  have  a  living  interest  in  Him 
who  was  bruised  for  their  iniquities  ?  And 
what  can  keep  the  young  men  and  women  in 
safety  even  when  surrounded  by  so  many  temp- 
tations ?  There  is  nothing  like  an  earnest  al- 
legiance to  Christ  your  Saviour.  Not  educa- 
tion nor  culture,  not  self-respect  nor  family  con- 
nection, not  even  the  consequences  of  sin  will 
keep  you,  but  loyal  heartedness  to  Ihe  Lv^id's 
will;  a  believing  look  on  the  slain  Lamb  will 
keep  your  feet  from  falling.  When  He  be- 
comes the  loadstone  of  your  heart,  the  strong- 
est motives  for  self-control,  for  purity,  and 
righteous  conduct,  will  emanate  from  Him. 
Nor  must  we  forget  tlie  many  sorrowing, 
cruL  lied  souls  that  are  all  around  us  to-day, 
what  can  we  do  to  satisfy  and  comfort  those 
bereaved  and  bleeding  hearts  }  • 

"  Bring  3'our  griefs  to  Jesus, 
Your  burdens  and  your  cares, 
He  from  them  all  releases. 
He  all  your  sorrows  shares." 

What  an  education  it  is  to  be  taught  of  the 
Holy   Spirit,   and  to   apprehend    in  all   their 


ADAPTATION  OF  TRUTH 


87 


intensity,  and  significance  the  vvants  and  woes 
of  perishing  men;  to  see  and  un(!tr=;tand  the 
vast  problem  of  sin  and  danger,  and  the  doom 
that  awaits  the  finally  impenitent;  and  then  to 
know  as  related  to  this,  that  nothing  but 
Christ  can  meet  and  save  from  this  result. 
Mere  human  sympathy,  without  Christ,  leaves 
us  helpless  in  every  emergency.  With  that 
alone  we  can  lay  only  a  feeble  hand  on  the 
wound;  our  own  philosophy  can  not  minister 
to  the  wants  and  sorrows  of  men.  Go  to  a 
despairing  heart,  enter  a  stricken  home,  talk 
to  that  bereaved  mother  whose  darling  is  lying 
in  yon  newly-made  grave;  speak  to  those 
crushed  by  many  a  burden;  stand  by  the  bed 
and  talk  to  that  djing  man.  And  how  unht 
for  that  holy  work  when  no  God  is  standing 
behind  you;  when  you  are  the  source  of  all 
you  say,  and  have  no  message  to  bring  from 
Christ.  But  the  Gospel  shows  how  thoroughly 
Christ  and  the  soul  belong  to  each  other,  and 
that  we  are  never  to  suppose  that  He  is  too  far 
off  for  the  need,  or  that  our  need  is  too  in- 
significant for  His  loving  care.  Many  fail  in 
their  mission  because  they  attempt  to  minister 
to  man  and  soothe  his  sorrows  with  other  con- 


:|;i« 


88 


ADAPTATION  OF  TRUTH 


It 


'  I    ' 

ill 


■t  * 


siderations  than  these.  But  let  no  one  be 
afraid  to  bring  the  subhmest  mysteries  of  our 
faith — Christ's  Hfe,  and  death,  and  resurrec- 
tion— as  the  foundation  on  which  the  soul  may 
securely  rest.  We  must  never  hesitate  to  pre- 
sent the  richest  promises  of  the  Gospel — the 
gifts  and  graces  of  the  Holy  Spirit — to  the 
help  and  comfort  of  man,  even  in  his  common 
troubles.  And  we  must  never  fail  to  combine 
the  sublimest  motive  to  the  smallest  duty,  and 
the  whole  comfort  of  Christ  to  the  most  in- 
significant trouble.  As  God  stamps  His  in- 
finite wisdom  and  power  on  each  little  flower 
He  paints,  so  does  Christ  impart  His  richest 
graces  when  He  comes  to  heal  all  manner  of 
sickness,  and  all  manner  of  disease  among  His 
people.  He  comes  Himself  to  dvell  in  our 
heart  by  faith. 

It  is  taking  that  one,  great,  universal  mes- 
sage of  Christ,  in  all  the  manifoldness  of  its 
power  and  blessing,  and  bringing  this  near  to 
men  in  all  the  fullness  of  its  divine  bounty. 
And  as  the  sunlight  and  summer  shower,  suit 
alike  the  mighty  cedars  of  Lebanon,  and  also 
the  little  moss  that  grows  half-hidden  in  the 
rock;  as  all  forms  of  life  in  their  endless  pro- 


i 


'. 


1 


ADAPTATION  OF  TRUTH  80 

fusion,  all  tints  and  shades  of  coloring,  all  trees 
and  plants,  all  shrubs  and  flowers,  draw  what 
they  need  from  the  one  fountain  of  supply. 
And  as  the  same  sun  builds  up  the  oak,  and 
pours  his  glory  into  the  little  flowers,  giving  all 
that  is  distinctive  through  the  endless  variety 
of  the  vegetable  creation.  So  will  this  one 
message— the  old,  old  story— from  the  pierced 
heart  of  Jehovah  Jesus,  suit  all  men  in  their 
manifold  circumstances. 

To  men  who  sit  in  darkness  might  not  such 
a  message  be  brought  to  them  as  the  breaking 
of  the  morning  after  a  long  night  of  trouble  > 
Might  it  not  be  as  the  coming  in  of  spring  when 
the  icy  indifference  melts  away  amid  sunshine 
and  song  of  birds  and  May  blossoms  ?     Might 
not  the  Gospel  be  received  as  spiritual  ozone 
a  breath  of  mountain  air,  pure  and  inspiring  to 
the  many  who  are  stifling  in  the  hot-beds  of 
sin  ?     O,  to  make  those  who  now  sit  in  dark- 
ness, to  feel  that  the  morning  has  come,  full  of 
ridiance,  and  that  all  the  shadows  have  fled 
away,  is  the  one  great  aim  of   all  Christian 
effort. 


f 


w 


ITS  FULL  FRUITION  IS  FUTURE. 


.1  *  I  ■ 

M 


'11 


\'-'- 

b 


//  Doth  Not  Yet  Appear  W/iat   Wc  Shall  Be. 

Salvation,  though  begun  here — for  now  we 
are  the  Sons  of  God — yet  in  its  full  fruition 
has  reference  to  the  future.  The  resemblance 
between  us  and  our  Saviour  begun  in  our  regen- 
eration, will  increase  more  and  more  as  we  die 
unto  sin  and  live  unto  righteousness.  Here 
the  spirit  draws  the  first  rough  drafts  of 
Christ's  image  in  our  heart,  but  the  picture 
will  not  be  perfected  till  we  awake  with  His 
likeness  to  share  His  glory.  The  aspirations 
and  capacities  of  man  are  so  vast  that  they  do 
not  find  a  fitting  field  for  their  display  on 
earth;  some  other  and  larger  sphere  is  held  in 
reserve  for  him.  We  take  an  egg  that  is 
nearly  hatched  and  chip  it,  and  we  find  within, 
a  bird  fully  formed,  with  eyes  to  see,  feet  to 
run,  and  wings  to  fly;  and  we  have  no  doubt 
that  this  bird  is  fitted  for  another  and  wider 
sphere  than  this  one  within  the  shell.  Its 
present  is  not  its  ultimate  life,  else  all  these 

faculties  would  be  useless  to  it.     And  so  we 

90 


ITS  FULL  FRUITION  IS  FUTURE 


91 


reason  with  man,  his  hopes,  fears,  joy,  experi- 
ences and  powers — his  intellectual,  moral  and 
spiritual  nature — are  not  always  to  be  cooped 
up  within  the  narrow  range  of  the  life  that  now 
is,  for  he  has  capacities  for  something  wider 
and  grander.  The  hope  set  before  us  in  the 
Gospel  is,  that  we  shall  be  made  partakers  of 
the  divine  nature,  holy  as  Christ  is  holy,  and 
perfect  as  our  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect,  and 
at  last  filled  with  all  the  fullness  of  God.  We 
are  now  planted  together  with  Christ  and  there 
is  no  limit  placed  upon  this  growth;  it  is  from 
our  present,  imperfect  experiences  up  to  the 
full  stature  of  men  in  Christ  Jesus.  Being 
predestinated  to  be  conformed  to  the  image  of 
His  Son,  we  must  be  changed  into  the  same 
image  from  glory  to  glory;  and,  therefore,  it 
doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be,  much 
remains  to  be  revealed  at  the  last  time. 

We  are  saved  already,  for  we  are  the  sons 
of  God  now.  Our  sins  are  all  forgiven,  we 
have  already  received  the  adoption;  the  Spirit 
has  already  set  His  seal  on  our  heart.  These 
are  all  matters  of  experience  and  not  of  expec- 
tation. We  often  overlook  the  fact  that  we 
have  the  earnest  of  the  inheritance  already 


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/r^  /'i/zz  FRmnoN  is  future 


and  we  are  now  within  the  strong  munitions 
of  Christ,  and  nothing  can  pluck  us  out  of  His 
hands.  Our  salvation  is  not  a  mere  peradvent- 
ure,  lying  on  the  balances  of  uncertainty  not 
knowing  whether  it  will  turn  out  life  or  death. 
We  are  not  solving  a  problem  not  knowing 
whether  we  shall  succeed  or  not.  This  could 
never  have  inspired  the  holy  boldness  of  the 
Apostle  as  he  puts  one  challenge  after  another — 
"  Who  is  he  that  condemneth  }  Who  shall 
separate  from  the  love  of  Christ !  Who  shall 
say  anything  to  these  things  .?  " 

Our  salvation  is  not  problematic;  if  I  hold 
on  my  way  God  will  save  me;  if  I  do  not  fall 
from  grace  I  may  peradventure  reach  the  gate 
of  the  city;  if  I  fulfill  certain  conditions  I  will 
be  the  victor  ;  not  so  ;  we  are  saved  al- 
ready; we  are  the  sons  of  God  noiv.  O,  to 
feel  the  reality  and  honor  of  it,  and  daily  to 
breathe  this  atmosphere  of  security  brings 
heaven  near  to  you.  Let  the  calm,  holy  light 
of  this  assurance  shine  over  your  path  of  daily 
duty  and  it  will  be  an  inspiration  to  strengthen 
and  comfort  you.  While  v/a!king  on  earth  to 
know  that  we  have  been  exalted  to  the 
heavenly  places,  and  have  the  tokens  of  our 


our 


ITS  FULL  FRUITION  IS  FUTURE         93 

acceptance  already  given,  makes  the  connec- 
tion between  our  present,  and  future  standing 
in  Christ,  close  and  intimate. 

But  while  all  this  is  true  our  fullness  of  joy  is 
at  God's  right  hand,  and,  therefore,  we  have  a 
grand  outlook  as  the  sons  of  God.  And  man 
alone,  of  all  creatures  on  earth  has  a  future. 
Our  destiny  is  not  confined  to  the  narrow  span 
between  childhood  and  the  grave,  there  is  a 
hope  set  before  us  in  the  Gospel,  which,  as  the 
anchor  of  the  soul  holds  us  to  the  golden  dock 
of  eternity.  This  outlook  is  grand  when  we 
view  it  in  the  light  of  the  Gospel  promises. 
We  shall  not  all  die  but  death  will  be  swal- 
lowed up  in  Hfe,  and  we  shall  live  together 
with  Him. 

Some  who  are  clamoring  to  gain  the  popular 
ear  are  making  grave  assaults  on  man's  divine 
origin  and  immortality.  Man's  origin  and  des- 
tiny are  both  canvassed.  They  find  a  universe, 
but  can  not  tell  how  it  came  or  by  whom  it  is 
governed;  they  discover  laws  but  no  law-giver; 
they  find  matter  but  no  spirit;  a  world  of  won- 
der, but  no  wise  God.  And  many  would  fain 
take  away  man's  hope  of  a  hereafter  and  re- 
duce him  to  the  level  of  the  brute  with  no 


I 


1 ', 


,1 


If  if! 


lU- 


i  i 


i  ; 


•   i 


!l' 


94 


ITS  FULL  FRUITION  IS  FUTURE 


higher  destiny.  No  bright  home  where  parted 
friends  meet  again;  no  victory  over  death;  no 
emerging  from  the  loneHness  of  the  grave;  all 
earnest  longing  torn  up  by  the  roots,  and  man 
left  to  die  as  the  beast  dies  !  Surely  there  is 
enough  already  of  the  base  and  the  beastly 
without  seeking  to  quench  any  little  spark  he 
may  have  of  a  better  life,  and  of  impulses  and 
resolutions  that  seek  to  govern  and  control  his 
lower  nature.  How  different  all  this  is  from 
the  outlook  of  the  Gospel — sons  of  now,  with 
a  grander  future  still  to  come. 

There  is  much  regarding  that  future  life  that 
has  not  been  revealed  and  which  we  shall  not 
know  till  the  day  shall  declare  it.  We  have 
partial  attempts  on  the  part  of  Apostolic  men 
to  unveil  the  joys  that  are  unspeakable  and 
full  of  glory  but  inspired  lips  can  not  tell  the 
whole  story,  and  with  reverent  feet  they 
pause  on  the  threshold  as  they  attempt  to  look 
into  that  which  c^e  hath  not  seen  or  ear  heard; 
it  is  to  be  with  Christ;  it  is  to  be  like  Christ;  it 
is  to  enter  into  the  joy  of  our  Lord;  it  is  to  be 
welcomed  and  crowned  amid  the  rejoicing 
throng  of  the  heavenly  land.  It  was  never  in- 
tended that  we  should  know  the  future  as  we 


ITS  FULL  FRUIT/ON  IS  FUTURE         95 

may  know  the;  past  lest  our  faith  be  trans- 
formed to  sense.     So   here  we  see  through  a 
glass  darkly,  and    know   only  in   part.     The 
Bible  takes  us  only  so  far  and  then  we  are 
left  with  the  curtain  drawn  over  many  a  mys- 
tery, and  this  veil  must  remain  untaken  away 
till  the  full  glory  bursts  on  our  astonished  vision 
as  we  enter  in  through  the  gate  into  the  city. 
Men's  conceptions  of  heaven  have    varied 
with  the  individual  mind  the  pictures  drawn  of 
it  have  been  of  the  most  diverse  kind,  and  a 
heaven  has  been  painted  corresponding  to  the 
wish   or  conceptions  of   men.     And  different 
descriptions  of  heaven  are  actually  given  in 
Scripture,  meeting  the  varied  and  felt  condi- 
tions of  man's  need.     The  intellectual  has  his 
heaven  in  endless  progress  in  knowledge,  con- 
tinued  advancement  in  intellectual   pursuits. 
The  aesthetic  has  a  heaven  of  varied  and  untold 
grandeur  and  endless  harmony.     A  heart  which 
sorrows  for  its  dead,  has    a  heaven    without 
graves  or  burials,  tears  or  sorrows.     Suffering 
has  a  heaven  without  pain  or  anything  that  can 
hurt  or  disturb.     The  weary  and  discouraged 
have  a  heaven  of  rest  and  peace.     While  the 
guilty  and   sin-stricken  have   a   hoi)    heaven 


m 


ITS  FULL  FRUITION  IS  FUTURE 


•  t 


'  •  1  n       If  i 

u  In 


\   1  .1 


i!i 


where  nothing  that  defileth  can  enter.  Thus 
our  Father's  house  has  attractions  for  many 
sides  of  our  nature. 

What  a  sad  history,  the  reign  of  sin  unto 
death ;  but  parallel  with  it  is  the  reign  of  grace 
through  righteousness  unto  eternal  life.  And 
when  the  shadows  have  all  fled  away,  what  a 
light  gathers  at  the  close  of  the  ages,  "  And 
the  city  hath  no  need  of  the  sun,  neither  of 
the  moon  to  shine  in  it;  for  the  glory  of  God 
did  lighten  it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light 
thereof.  And  the  nations  of  them  that  are 
saved  shall  walk  in  the  light  of  it;  and  the 
kings  of  the  earth  do  bring  their  glory  and 
honor  unto  it.  And  the  gates  of  it  shall  not 
be  shut  at  all  by  day;  for  there  shall  be  no 
night  there.  And  they  shall  bring  the  glory 
and  honor  of  the  nations  into  it.  And  there 
shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  it  anything  that 
defileth;  neither  whatsoever  worketh  abomina- 
tion or  maketh  a  lie ;  but  they  who  are  written 
ii!  the  Lamb's  book  of  Life."  Rev.  xxi;  23- 
27. 


Thus 
many 


CHRISrSLOVE;  THE  SOURCE  OF  ALL. 


Who  Shall  Separate  us  From  the  Love  of 

Christ. 

He  loved  us  and  gave  Himself  for  us;  He 
loved  us  and  washed  us  from  our  sins  in  His 
own  blood;  "  He  loved  the  church  and  gave 
Himself  for  it;    that  He   might  sanctify  and 
cleanse  it  with  the  v/ashing  of  water  by  the 
word,  that  He  might  present  it  to  Himself  a 
glorious  church  not  having  spot  or  wrinkle,  or 
any  such  thing;  but  that  it  should  be  holy  and 
without   blemish."      Ep.  v:  25-27.      Christ's 
love  is  the  old,  old  story  that  fills  the  Bible, 
and  everything  else  is  merely  the  setting  of  this 
one  jewel.     When  we  read  our  Bibles  with  a 
fond  heart,  we  feel  that  Christ's  love  is  the 
great    burden  of   all   its  announcements   and 
makes  the  strongest  impression  upon  us;  the 
love  of  Christ  constrains  us;  the  love  of  Christ 
passeth  knowledge;  who  shall  separate  us  from 
the  love  of  Christ } 

In  that  compassion  which  moved  the  Saviour 
to  unrobe  Himself  of  His  heavenly  glory,  and 

97 


h  1 


98 


CHRIST'S  LOVE 


If 

t'! 


1,1 


1!'    ■ 


88 


Ill 


let  Himself  down  to  the  sinner,  we  see  a  length, 
a  breadth,  a  depth  and  a  height  that  passeth 
knowledge;  which  even  angels  can  not  fathom 
though  they  look  into  it  with  absorbing  inter- 
est. In  that  humiliation  which  led  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ — which  constrained  Him  who  was 
Jehovah's  fellow — to  take  our  nature,  and  lay 
His  redeeming  hand  on  the  lowest  transgressor, 
we  see  a  depth  of  love  ^hat  neither  human  nor 
angelic  plummet  shall  ever  fathom,  and  which 
all  eternity  will  not  exhaust,  for  it  bears  the 
glorious  infinitude  of  His  own  divinity;  and 
this  was  thrown  as  a  mantle  of  mercy  over  an 
erring  world  to  recall  an  exiled  family.  O 
how  strong,  and  overmastering  must  the  Sav- 
iour's love  to  lost  sinners  have  been,  when  it 
constrained  Him  to  place  the  load  of  their  guilt 
on  His  holy  heart  that  he  might  give  Himself 
to  atone.  Surely  the  riches  of  Christ  are  un- 
searchable, and  there  is  a  manifold  wisdom  in 
all  His  redeeming  acts. 

But  can  we  know  a  thing  that  is  nifinite,  or 
measure  an  attribute  whose  length,  breadth, 
depth  and  height  passeth  knowledge  }  This  is 
the  very  point  of  Paul's  prayer,  that  through 
the  grace  of  God  we  may  solve  this  seeming 


CHRIST'S  LOVE  §9 

paradox,  and  know  from  the   experience   of 
our  hearts  that  which  far  transcends  our  finite 
powers.     We  know  the  ocean,  we  can  see  it, 
bathe  in  it,  sail  over  it,  enjoy  it,  but  we  do 
not  know  all  its  secrets,  nor  has  any  plummet 
sounded  all  its  depths.    A  little  child  can  know 
its  father,  can  love  him,  and  be  loved  by  him, 
and  yet  that  child  does  not  know  all  the  plans 
and  purposes  of  that  father.     John  Milton's 
little    daughter  knew   and  loved   her   father, 
but  she  did  not  know  all  that  was  passing 
through  his  great   mind.      So  we  know  the 
Saviour,  though  we  can  not  measure  all  the 
depths  of  a  love  that  has  touched,  and  mel- 
lowed,  and  filled   our  hearts.      We  begin  to 
know  Him  when  we  begin  to  love  him,  for  it 
is  knowledge  through  love  which  alone  gives 
us  an   insight   into   the  mysteries   of   Divine 
grace.     It  is  a  holy  instinct  imparted  to  our 
hearts  that  responds  to  his  love,  and  this  in- 
stinct solves  all  riddles,  explains  all  difficulties, 
and  deciphers  what  are  only  unmeaning  sym- 
bols to  the  ignorant  and  disloyal. 

The  cross  is  the  clearest  and  fullest  proof  of 
a  Saviour's  love.  It  is  the  exposition  of  His 
heart's  desire,    and   the  constant  witness  to 


l:,(    ; 


;i  t 


i 


\u 


100 


CHRIST'S  LOVE 


men  of  that  love  that  is  the  wonder  of  angels. 
If  before  the  cross  we  get  the  most  profound 
conceptions  of  sin  as  that  abominable  thing 
that  God  hates,  so  there  also,  before  that  same 
cross,  we  get  the  grandest  exposition  of  the 
divine  character;  the  fullest  display  of  the 
mingled  majesty  and  mercy  of  God.  There  is 
no  letting  down  of  His  claims,  and  no  letting 
go  of  His  lost  sheep;  God  is  just  while  the 
justifier  of  the  ungodly.  And  the  divine  honor 
is  sustained,  and  the  law  magnified,  by  the 
very  means  through  which  the  sinner  is  found 
and  brought  back. 

The  teacher  in  this  school  is  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  when  He  comes  with  His  live  coal  to  touch 
and  warm  our  hearts  and  wake  up  within  us 
a  sympathetic  interest  in  the  Saviour  we  make 
rapid  advancement  in  those  lessons  which  He 
applies  with  grace  to  the  heart.  When  He 
breathes  the  fragrance  of  heaven  over  the  soul 
we  gather  up  the  golden  shekels  from  the 
treasury  of  the  Lord,  and  lay  up  vast  stores  of 
heart-wealth.  The  experimental  side  of  relig- 
ion is  the  mc  t  satisfying,  and  when  the  spirit 
is  dealing  directly  with  the  heart,  and  pours 
the  floods  of  grace  through  the  currents  of  our 


CHRIST'S  LOVE  loi 

spiritual  life,  the  Gospel  becomes  a  feast  of  fat 
things,  and  Jesus  Christ  Himself,  the  chief 
among  ten  thousand. 


I 
I 


HE  IS  A  PRESENT  SA  VIOUR. 


1  ! 


IM!; 


I   ; 


/  Will  Not  Leave  You  Orphans. 

A  day  came  when  He  was  parted  from  them 
and  carried  away.  The  disciples  watched 
Jesus  as  He  went  up  and  passed  from  sight 
behind  the  cloud,  and  many  have  thought  of 
Him  ev(T  since  as  One  who  has  left  the 
world  behind  Him  and  is  now  far  away. 

He  is  yonder  amid  infinite  blessedness,  and 
I  am  here  amid  daily  care  and  sorrow,  and 
how  to  bring  His  help  to  my  present  needs  is 
the  problem  at  which  faith  often  stumbles. 
But  did  He  not  say  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you 
always.?"  And  are  we  afraid  He  will  not 
keep  His  promise  }  Are  we  thinking  of  Him 
as  we  do  of  other  men  who  have  lived,  finished 
their  work  and  gone  away  }  Is  Jesus  only  one 
of  those  historical  persofis  who  has  long  since 
disappeared  from  the  scene,  and  all  that  is  left 
of  him  now,  only  a  fond,  fading  memory  to 
cherish,  or  an  example  to  follow }  If  so,  then 
our  life  must  be  shorn  of  its  sweetest  joys,  for 
His  assured  presence  is  the  Holy  of  Holies  of 

109 


HE  IS  A  PRESENT  SA  VIOUR  103 

Christian  experience  and  His  throne  of  grace 
is  where  faith  seeks  to  meet  Him  as  the  ever- 
living  and  everpresent  Saviour  who  retains  all 
the  tenderness  of  a  heart  that  constrained  Him 
when  here  among  His  people  to  shed  tears 
when  He  saw  their  sins  and  sorrows.     He  is 
the  same  dear,  tender,  loving  friend  to  us  all 
this  day  amid  the  trials  and  bereavements  that 
afflict   men    now,   that  He  was  to  Mary  and 
Martha    and    many   another   troubled   heart. 
His  going  away  has  not  changed  His  nature, 
and  His  heart  is  as  full  of  pity  and  tenderness 
this  very  day  as  it  was  when  He  took  the  little 
children   in  His  arms  and  fondled   them    out 
His  knee.     As  human  and    brotherly  in  His 
sympathies  as  when  John  leaned  on  His  bosom. 
His  friendship  means  as  much  -o  His  people 
now  as  it  ever  did  to  Peter  and  James  and 
John.      His  heart  has  lost  none  of  its  fondness 
for  His  dear  people.      He  is   still    the   good 
shepherd  going  before  His  sheep  and  calling 
them  all  by  name,  and  His  compassion  is  as 
deep  as  it  was  on  the  day  He  was  parted  from 
His  disciples. 

And  when  amid  our  troubles  we  come  and 
tell  Jcsiis,  r     one  need  doubt  but  that  he  is 


ll 


104 


HE  IS  A  PRESENT  SA  VI OUR 


lli  \ 


V. 


•V 


r; 


i! 


\\ 


li 


both  familiar  with  them  and  knows  all  about 
the  things  that  try  us.  And  that  he  will  also 
bring  His  own  life  into  perfect  sympathy  with 
ours  and  prove  Himself  to  be  a  present  help 
in  the  day  of  our  troubles.  How  like  His 
brethren  He  was,  r^nd  is  now,  and  as  the  man 
of  sorrows  He  has  passed  through  their  ex- 
periences. He  Himself  has  stood  where 
many,  of  His  afflicted  people  stand  today 
and  has  felt  what  they  are  now  feeling, 
and  His  eyes  look  down  upon  the  hidden  depths 
of  their  sorrows.  His  training  brought  Him  into 
sympathetic  relations  with  the  people,  and  from 
personal  experience  He  could  appreciate  the 
needs,  the  tastes,  and  tendencies  and  trials  of 
the  multitude.  He  is  such  that  we  may  well 
throw  ourselves  on  His  brotherhood  and  tell 
Him  of  what  lies  heaviest  on  our  hearts.  And 
when  we  steal  away  from  this  world  of  noise 
and  confusion,  into  the  quiet  of  that  holy  of 
holies  with  Christ  alone,  to  confess,  to  plead, 
and  to  obtain  from  Him  grace  and  mercy,  vi^e 
know  that  we  are  known  of  him  just  as  we  are. 
We  do  not  come  to  tell  him  anything  He  does 
not  know,  but  only  to  receive  what  his  love 
sees  best  to  give. 


HE  IS  A  PRESENT  SA  VIOUR  105 

But  while  Christ  is  with  His  own  it  does  not 
follow  that  the  way  home  will  always  be  sun- 
shine, the  voyage  will  not  always  be  free  from 
storms,  and  there  will  often  be  much  harm  to 
the  lading  and  ship,  but  every  one  on  board 
will  get  safe  to  land.     His  love  was  net  meant 
to  exempt  us  from  the  common  ills  of  life.   But 
when  he  comes  and  defeats  our  plans  or  takes 
away  an  idol,   no  one  need  imagine  that  He 
has  forsaken  them,  or  that  His  promises  have 
failed.     For  it  is  at  such  times  that  Jesus  Him- 
self draws  near  to  walk  with  you,  and  make 
the  path  on  which  you  walk  bright  with  His 
presence.     And  the  life  beyond  will  seem  all 
the  brighter  because  of  the  shadows  that  have 
rested  upon  us  here. 

See  yon  light  summer  clouds  that  float  so 
gracefully  across  the  azure  sky;  how  beautiful 
and  pure  they  appear  in  their  rich  fleecy  full- 
ness, yet  these  same  clouds  have  had  their 
origin  in  the  filthy  marsh,  and  even  the  cess- 
pools of  the  great  city  have  gone  to  form  them. 
Pure  as  they  appear  in  the  summer  sky  their 
origin  is  far  otherwise.  Lo,  the  redeemed  in 
heaven,  so  joyous  and  bright,  c.'othed  in  white 
garments,  whence  come  they  >   These  are  they 


i, 

i  4\ 


■5-  ;■!< 


y^'^ 


]U^ 


J'' 


IOC 


//£  IS  A  PRESENT  SA  VI OUR 


\, 


who  have  come  out  of  great  tribulation  and 
made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb. 
And  just  because  they  have  come  out  of  great 
tribulation,  heaven  will  appear  all  the  more 
like  heaven  to  them ;  the  contrast  will  brighten 
all  the  colors.  The  slave  rejoices  in  his  liberty; 
the  weztry  welcome  rest;  the  winter  intensifies 
the  freshness  of  spring;  and  as  the  darkness  is 
the  fitting  b'ack-ground  on  which  the  glories  of 
the  day  are  laid;  so  our  light  afflictions  which 
are  for  a  moment,  worketh  for  us  a  far  more 
exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory.  And 
the  presence  of  Jesus  Himself  in  that  home 
above  will  be  all  the  sweeter  to  the  fond  heart, 
because  we  once  lived  in  an  evil  world  and 
have  reached  that  land  of  promise  by  the 
way  of  the  wilderness,  and  then,  through  all 
the  ages  to  come  He  will  show  His  kindness  to 
us,  and  Christ  shall  be  all  in  all. 


.]'! 


!     ■ 


GOD  IS  OUR  FATHER  IN  CHRIST, 


He  That  Hath  Seen  Me  Hath  Seen  the  Father. 
He  is  our  Father  on  earth  now;  for  we  are 
His  children  by  adoption.     The  great  Master 
taught   us   to   say  "  Our  Father  who  art   in 
heaven,"  so  that  we  might  breathe  a  warmer 
atmosphere  and  live  daily  under  the  care  of  the 
Father  of  mercies  and  the  God  of  all  comfort. 
We    may   learn    much   from    Jacob's   prayer. 
When  the  old  patriarch  bowed  his  heart  before 
the  Almighty,  he  did  not  begin  his  prayer— 
"  O  thou  God  of  nature;  and  "  thou  God  of 
providence. "     That  would  have  been  like  twin 
cliffs  whose  summits  were  lost  in  the  mists,  or 
far  up  in  the  cold  frosty  air,  while  the  burdened 
heart  lay  in  darkness  and  weariness  far  below. 
But  when  Jacob  prayed  he  said,  "  O  God  of 
my  father  Abraham;  God  of  my  father  Isaac." 
And  this  brought  God  near  tc  him,  not  as  an 
abstraction,  but  as  the  God  who  had  fed  and 
kept  him  all  his  life  long. 

We  often  pray  "  O  God  of  Israel;  O  God  of 
Zion."   The  God  of  long  past  days.    We  think 


107 


m 

|» !' 


t 


'!' 


i-r 


11;' 


'"I 


V- 


108 


(;0Z)  75  067?  FATHER  IN  CHRIST 


of  Him  as  belonging  to  patriarchs  and  proph- 
ets, but  not  to  ourselves.  Why  not  say — "  O 
God  of  Canada  ?  The  God  of  my  own  coun- 
try and  of  my  own  people;  the  God  of  my 
father  and  my  mother;  the  God  of  my  own 
home,  and  of  my  own  needs."  Not  a  God 
afar  off,  but  in  the  midst  of  all  my  cares,  and 
fears  and  sins  that  I  might  lay  my  hand  in 
His. 

There  is  surely  such  a  way  of  making  Him 
known  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ar  shall  be  to 
us  as  an  inspiration  and  gracious  assurance. 
And  that  men  under  burdens,  men  in  sorrow 
whose  hopes  have  all  been  blighted,  lonely 
men  who  are  without  sympathy  in  life;  men 
troubled  and  weary  and  bankrupt  in  heart 
might  look  up  to  Him  as  the  God  of  all  com- 
fort, and  rejoice  in  His  presence  as  men  do  at 
the  coming  in  of  the  morning,  calm,  sweet, 
radiant. 


w  J 


,  I 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  MUST  REVEAL 

THIS  SAVIOUR  AND  ASSURE 

US  OF  HIS  PRESENCE. 


He  Will  Teach  Yon  all  Things. 
Not  till  our  eyes  are  opened  shall  we  see 
that  all  the  hills  around  are  occupied  by  the 
chariots  of  the   Lord.      But    how   the   truth 
grows,  and  how  rich  the  promises  of  grace  be- 
come, and  how  near  and  precious  Christ  seems 
when  His  Spirit  fills  our  heart.     In  the  soft 
light  of  early  summer,  when  the  wo  Id  has 
grown  rich  and  full,  we  see  all  nature  quick- 
ened and  beautified.     Some  mysterious   and 
pervasive  influence  has  breathed  upon  her;  the 
icy  fetters  are  broken,  and  the  fountains  of  the 
crystal   brooks   are   opened;   the   forests   are 
clothed  in  their  leafy  mantle;  the  fiowers  are 
strewn  all  the  hill-side  over,  and  all  the  valleys 
through,  for  the  time  of  the  singing  of  the  birds 
has  come.     So  it  is  when  times  of  refreshing 
come  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  Jesus 
shows  Himself  to  His  people;  their  hearts  are 
then  made  glad  with  a  great  joy,  summer  and 


109 


no 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT 


%'- 


sunshine  fill  the  soul  with  all  their  attendant 
pomp  and  glories.  When  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
poured  out  the  story  of  the  Cross  has  such 
Divine  power  to  inspire,  to  enoble,  to  purify 
and  save  men.  It  brings  Heaven  so  near  to  the 
earth  and  Jesus  so  near  to  the  heart,  and  over- 
hangs this  present  life  with  the  sure  mercies  of 
David.  When  Jesus  opens  my  eyes,  cleanses 
my  spiritual  leprosy,  speaks  to  my  conscience, 
His  comforting  assurances  fit  into  every  corner 
of  my  moral  life  as  the  key  fits  the  lock,  bread 
to  the  hungry,  water  for  the  thirsty,  a  balm  for 
the  wounded,  comfort  for  the  sad,  light  to  dis- 
pel our  darkness,  a  guide  to  lead  us  through 
all  life's  perplexities.  Why,  grace  touches 
man's  needs  as  the  sunlight  that  bends  down  to 
bathe  the  world  and  to  touch  everything  that 
lives — the  morning  radiance  that  comes  to  kiss 
every  leaf  and  blossom  and  bud  and  flower. 
Just  like  this  does  our  Saviour  lay  His  love  at 
the  roots  of  our  moral  life,  and  our  manifold 
wants  are  encircled  by  the  multitude  of  His 
tender  mercies  as  the  great,  wide  dome  of 
Heaven  that  overhangs  us  wherever  we  may 
look  up.  What  wonderful  adaptation  the 
spirit  gives  to  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ 


THE  HOL  Y  SPIRIT 


111 


as  he  applies  them  to  the  needs  of  the  soul. 
Not  more  fitted  is  the  light  to  the  eye,  the  air 
to  the  lungs;  not  more  adapted  are  the  sun- 
shine and  the  shower  to  the  parched  ground 
than  are  the  truths  of  Divine  grace  and  the 
tender  mercies  of  our  God  to  the  heart  that 
longs  for  his  salvation.  As  cold  water  to  a 
thirsty  soul,  so  is  the  assured  presence  of 
Christ  to  the  weary,  timid,  doubting  heart  that 
learns  to  come  to  him  for  rest. 


CHRIST  IS  OUR  KING  TO  RULE   US, 


If 


M 


4  1 


V 


i:;' 


T/tj>  Kingdom  Come. 

He  is  a  Prince  as  well  as  a  Saviour,  and  He 
will  subdue  all  His  and  our  enemies  under 
Him.  He  comes  to  rule  us  now  in  His  love. 
But  this  Kingdom  comcth  not  with  observa- 
tion, and  to  enter  it  we  must  be  born  from 
above,  for  it  is  the  Kingdom  of  God  within  us. 
There  are  some  who  are  anxious  to  crown 
Christ  a  King  in  Jerusalem,  and  over  the 
Jewish  people  gathered  together  once  more  as 
a  nation.  There  are  many  who  hesitate  to 
accept  Christ  as  their  King,  who  have  no 
objections  to  his  reigning  in  Jerusalem,  for  that 
is  a  considerable  distance  from  them,  but  they 
do  not  want  him  to  rule  in  their  hearty  or  s/iop, 
or  office.  They  are  ready  to  hand  over  the 
Jews  to  him,  but  they  hesitate  when  asked  to 
hand  over  their  business  concerns,  their  buying 
and  selling,  and  all  the  routine  of  their  daily 
life.  We  have  fine  spun  theories  about  the 
restoration  of  God's  ancient  people,  but  we  are 
less  concerned  about  our  own  restoration  from 


112 


ra. 


CHRIST  IS  OUR  KING  113 

vanity,  worldliness,  greed,  evil  speaking, 
deceit,  uncleanness  and  uncouthness,  into  all 
the  nobility  of  a  pure,  rich,  Christian  life, 
owning  allegiance  to  Christ  as  at  once  our 
Lawgiver  and  our  King. 

We  call  Him  "  King  of  the  Jews,"  why  not 
call  Him  our  King  and  crown  Him  Lord  of  our 
hearts   and   homes?     We  are  ready  to  give 
Him  Jerusalem,  why  not  give   Him  our  own 
country,   or  city  or  town?     We  will  confine 
His  sceptre  to  Palestine,  but  why  not  welcome 
it    in    Canada?     We    pray   "Thy    Kingdom 
come,"  but  all  the  time  we  mean  a  kingdom 
at  a  great  distance  from  ourselves,  and  a  per- 
sonal   reign   that  will  not  interfere  with  our 
liberty.     By  Christ's  Kingdom  we  do  not  mean 
His  ruling  our  hearts  in  love,  a  king  control- 
ling the  most  secret  and  private  affairs  of  our 
life,  some  of  us  do  not  want  a  kingdom  that 
will    cause    righteousness    to   run   down   our 
streets,   that  will  sanctify  our  Sabbaths,   and 
make  Jesus  Lord  of  ourselves  and  of  our  all. 
There  are  those  who  afifirm  that  His  king- 
dom has  not  yet  been  set  up,  and  will  not  be 
till   He  come  back  again  in  the  flesh.     But 
Jesus  said  to  His  disciples,  "  It  is  expedient 


114 


CHRIST  IS  OUR  KING 


i[i 


1 


■A      !".• 


!■: 


1^   w 


■  -\ 


for  you  that  I  go  away,  for  if  I  go  not  away 
the  Comforter  will  not  come  to  you,  but  if  I 
go  I  will  send  Him  to  you."  Our  Lord  knew 
what  was  best  for  His  disciples  and  for  the 
church,  and  that  it  was  the  Comforter  and  not 
His  own  human  presence  that  would  make  this 
a  dispensation  of  the  Spirit.  His  human 
presence  could  be  confined  only  to  the  one 
place  at  a  time,  and  only  those  could  see  Him 
who  were  in  a  position  to  look  upon  Him. 
And  would  His  human  presence  in  Jerusalem 
or  anywhere  else  assure  us  more  than  we  are 
now  of  His  gracious  reign  .-*  If  so  then  is  our 
belief  sensuous  and  materialistic,  and  does  not 
stand  in  the  power  of  God.  All  these  condi- 
tions were  once  realized  on  the  earth  and  our 
Lord  went  from  place  to  place.  When  He 
was  in  Galilee  He  could  not  be  in  Judea,  when 
working  His  miracles  in  Capernaum,  no  man 
saw  Him  in  Jerusalem,  when  talking  with  the 
women  at  the  well  none  else  enjoyed  His  min- 
istry at  the  same  time;  when  He  was  beyond 
the  Jordan  the  sisters  missed  Him  in  Bethany, 
and  sent  a  swift  messenger  to  bring  him  back. 
And  Jesus  Himself  recognized  this  condition  of 
things,  and  spake  of  His  absence  from  them, 


CHRIST  IS  OUR  KING  us 

for  He  said  to  His  disciples  "  I  am  glad  I  was 
not  there."  But  none  of  His  disciples  think 
of  the  Saviour  in  that  way  today,  as  having  to 
leave  one  place,  or  home,  or  sad  heart,  to  be 
with  another  to  comfort  them. 

When  the  Spirit  was  given,  His  human  be- 
came a  Divine  presence;  His  local  has  become 
a    universal    presence;     and    His    temporary 
has    become     a     permanent    presence;     and 
surely    none    of     us     would     wish    to    have 
all    this    changed    back   again,    and   the   old 
days    and    life   of    Judea   reproduced.     This 
would  put   the   dial   of   Christian   experience 
back  many  degrees,  and  give  the  lie  to  Him 
who  said,  "  It  is  expedient  that  I  go  away." 
As  long  as  His  disciples  saw  their  Lord  in 
bodily  form  before  their  eyes,  they  must  think 
of   Him  as  confined  to   places.     Hence   the 
need  for  His  withdrawal  that  He  might  send 
the  Comforter  to  witness  for  Christ  and  fill  all 
things  with  His  presence. 

Nor  must  Christ's  reign  be  restricted  to  a  cor- 
ner of  the  earth,  as  if  He  had  come  to  save  a 
few  souls  here  and  there.  He  came  to  save 
men,  to  save  the  world,  to  save  all  depart- 
ments of  labor,  to  purify  our  trade,  our  com- 


I 
i 


no 


CHRIST  IS  OUR  KING 


merce,  our  politics,  our  educational  institu- 
tions; to  save  and  purify  our  science,  our  lit- 
erature, our  arts,  and  all  departments  of  in- 
dustry, so  that  holiness  to  the  Lord  may  be 
written  on  the  very  bells  of  the  horses.  It  is 
to  be  the  Kingdom  of  heaven  on  the  earth, 
and  its  coming  is  to  make  all  life,  with  its 
manifold  activities,  purer,  richer,  and  happier. 
^  How  often  Christ  had  to  remind  the  disciples 
that  His  kingdom  was  not  of  this  world,  and 
that  His  servants  must  not  fight  with  carnal 
weapons;  also  that  it  did  not  come  with  observ- 
ation, but  as  the  wind  that  blows  over  all  the 
earth,  to  sway  the  hearts  of  men  with  the  sum- 
mer of  God's  love,  and  cause  them  to  bud 
forth,  to  blossom  and  bear  the  fruits  of  right- 
eousness. 


i:;i 


OUR  CONSECRA  TION  TO  HIM. 


Whose  I  Am,  and  Whom  I  Serve. 
The  Apostle  always  brings  His  doctrines  to 
bear  on  life  and  conduct,  and  closes  His  letters 
to  the  churches  by  making  a  personal   appeal 
—seeing  these  things  are  so  what  manner  of 
men  ought  we  to  be  in  all  holy  conversation 
and  Godliness  ?    Is  Christ  your  Saviour  ?    Can 
you  say,  "  My  beloved  is  mine  and  I  am  His  ?" 
The  doctrines  of  grace  which  we  have  been 
dwelling  on   are  manifest;  are  you  adorning 
these  doctrines  and  walking  before  God  unto 
all  pleasing  ?     This  brings  up  the  question  of 
our  consecration  to  His  service,  and  our  sur- 
render to  His  gracious  claim. 

There  is  an  expression  which  Paul  uses  that 
puts  this  matter  of  personal  consecration  in  its 
true  light— "The  Lord,  whose  I  am,  and 
whom  I  serve."  Could  we  keep  this  ever  in 
our  hearts  it  would  make  us  true  and  strong  in 
all  lines  of  daily  duty.  Because  He  owns  us, 
we  are  His  in  all  things.  Christ  is  our  Master 
in  everything;  in  our  words,  our  deeds  and 

1x7 


T 


hi' 


!I|| 


;-  i  .' 


118  OW?  CONSECRATION  TO  HIM 

daily  business.  He  is  the  Lord  of  our  week- 
days as  well  as  of  our  Sabbaths;  the  Lord  of 
our  shop  and  office,  as  well  as  of  our  closet  and 
pew.  His  disciples  must  find  their  church 
where  their  duty  lies,  and  many  a  mother,  full 
of  her  household  cares,  may  be  as  much  in  the 
service  of  God  as  those  who  sing  psalms  in  the 
House  of  God.  And  as  no  word  our  Saviour 
spake,  or  deed  He  ever  did  was  secular,  His 
servants  must  seek  His  spirit  and  learn  to 
glorify  God  whether  they  eat  or  drink  or  what- 
soever they  do. 

Some  people  cultivate  an  ascetic  spirit  and 
seek  to  withdraw  from  the  world  into  some 
quiet  retreat,  to  rciire  into  the  cloister,  the 
convent,  that,  undisturbed  by  the  noise,  the 
confusion,  the  strife  and  worry  of  the  world, 
they  might  be  able  to  give  themselves  exclu- 
sively to  meditation  and  prayer.  This  life  has 
attractions  for  a  certain  class  of  minds.  It 
seems  to  them  to  be  the  very  ideal  of  a  Chris- 
tian life — quiet,  meditative,  prayerful.  In  the 
judgment  of  some  ^his  secluded  life  is  regarded 
as  more  sacred,  and  nearer  heaven  and  the 
Master  than  any  other.  But  this  is  God's 
world  where  we  live,  and  how  much  better  to 


I 


OUR  CONSECRATION  TO  HIM         119 

live  for  the  purpose  which  He  intended,  and 
strive  to  have  God's  will  done  in  all  depart- 
ments of  the  world's  work.  When  the  disciples 
came  to  Jesus  and  asked  Him — "  Who  is  great- 
est in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ?"  Christ's  reply 
was — "  He  is  the  greatest  who  does  the  most 
good,"  doing  good  to  all  men  as  we  have  op- 
portunity. And  there  is  no  work  like  that 
which  we  spend  amid  the  fears,  the  conflicts, 
the  joys  and  sorrows  of  our  fellow-men;  work- 
ing, not  on  dead  matter,  but  on  the  living, 
palpitating  heart  of  humanity.  Every  one  who 
loves  his  Saviour  should  have  his  own  chosen, 
well-selected  field  of  labor,  and  seek  to  culti- 
vate it  as  the  garden  of  the  Lord,  for  the  plants 
and  flowers  that  bloom  there  are  the  sweetest 
and  most  fragrant  of  all. 

Nor  are  we  left  to  be  guided  by  abstract 
principles,  for  we  have  placed  before  us  a  per- 
fect example,  and  an  embodiment  of  every 
Christian  grace  in  the  character  and  life  of  our 
I  />rd.  "  In  our  blessed  Lord  and  Master,  we 
have  one  who  Himself  trod  before  us  every  step 
that  He  would  have  us  tread,  bore  every  burden 
He  would  have  us  bear,  met  every  temptation 
He  would  have  us  meet,  shared  every  grief  He 


120 


OUR  CONSECRATION  TO  HIM 


"a 

t  ■ 
■h 


'il: 


;;ri 


would  havens  share,  and  did  every  duty  He 
would  have  us  do.  Study  it  aright  and  it  will 
surprise  you  to  discover  over  what  a  wide  and 
varied  field  of  human  experience  the  example 
of  our  Saviour  stretches,  and  how  difficult  it  is 
to  find  a  position  or  experience  of  our  common 
life  to  which  you  may  not  find  something  an- 
swering in  the  life  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth." — 
Manna's  life  of  Christ. 

But  more  is  needed  than  example,  for  many 
saw  and  knew  His  life  well  and  yet  turned 
away  and  walked  no  more  with  Him.  His 
crucifiers  were  not  ignorant  of  what  manner 
of  man  He  was.  Even  the  betrayer  had  been 
v/ith  Him  through  all  His  ministry,  had  heard 
His  words,  witnessed  His  miracles,  knew  His 
life,  enjoyed  His  example,  and  yet  at  the  end 
of  it  all  he  betrayed  his  Master,  and  then  went 
and  hanged  himself.  Jesus  is  not  our  Saviour 
in  virtue  of  exhibiting  all  the  graces  that 
adorned  His  life.  He  does  not  save  us  by  the 
force  of  example,  though  it  is  an  important 
factor  in  our  sanctification.  While  we  have  in 
Him  the  image  or  copy  after  which  we  are  to 
be  formed,  we  have  to  be  changed  into  that 
image  by  the  spirit  of  our  God. 


■-' 


; 


OUR  CONSECRATION  TO  HIM 


121 


The  grand  purpose  and  ultimate  issue  of 
Christ's  redeeming  work  is,  that  His  people 
are  to  be  like  Him,  but  they  reach  that  like- 
ness by  the  washing  of  regeneration  and  the 
renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  not  till  He 
has  washed  us  in  His  fountain  of  cleansin,^ 
shall  we  bear  once  more  the  image  of  the 
heavenly.  And  what  a  transformation!  To 
be  changed  into  the  same  image!  The  mind 
of  Christ,  our  mind;  the  ways  of  Christ,  our 
ways;  the  works  of  Christ,  our  work;  the  home 
and  Father  of  Christ,  our  home  and  Father: 
and  even  the  glory  of  Christ,  our  glory;  and 
we  shall  reign  with  Him  for  ever  and  for  ever. 


'4 


»l: 


iii 


i| 

1 

1  : 

hi 


!     ! 


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